Disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein will be retried in New York after rape conviction overturned
Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein will be retried in New York, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced in court on Wednesday, one week after the state’s highest court overturned his 2020 rape conviction.
Weinstein appeared in court before Judge Curtis Farber in a wheelchair and a black suit, over four years since his conviction was celebrated as a landmark for the #MeToo movement, where women accused hundreds of men in entertainment, media, politics, and other sectors of sexual misconduct.
“There was nothing consensual about this conduct,” prosecutor Nicole Blumberg stated. “We believe in this case and will be retrying it.”
Weinstein, 72, had been serving a 23-year sentence in a prison in upstate Rome, New York. Following last week’s order, he was transferred to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, according to his spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer.
Farber remanded Weinstein back into custody and expressed his intention to hold a new trial after the Labour Day holiday, although no definitive date was set. Labour Day is on September 2.
Weinstein remained silent during the court hearing. His attorney, Arthur Aidala, did not object to his client being remanded. “There’s a tremendous sense of relief that we’re back here,” Aidala remarked after the court session.
“We’re very confident that if he goes to trial, the only words we’ll hear at the end of the trial are ‘not guilty,’” he continued. Aidala mentioned that Weinstein would return to Bellevue.
In February 2020, jurors in Manhattan convicted Weinstein of sexually assaulting former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013. They are among more than 80 women who have accused him of sexual misconduct.
The conviction included charges of first-degree sexual assault and third-degree rape. Weinstein, who has consistently denied engaging in non-consensual sexual encounters, was acquitted of other charges.
Haley’s solicitor, Gloria Allred, informed reporters that she has not yet decided whether she will testify again at the trial, citing the traumatising nature of the experience. “That testimony was obviously believed by the jury, and in addition, Mimi’s testimony was not the only evidence presented,” Allred stated.
Last week, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that Judge James Burke, who presided over the trial, made a critical error by allowing three women to testify about alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein that were not part of the criminal charges against him. The court declared that this “prior bad acts” testimony violated his right to a fair trial.
Weinstein was also sentenced to 16 years following his separate rape trial in California. The two sentences cannot be served concurrently. California law grants prosecutors greater leeway to introduce “prior bad acts” evidence compared to New York. With Burke no longer on the bench, any New York retrial would occur before a different judge.
Weinstein co-founded the Miramax film studio, which produced hits such as Shakespeare in Love and Pulp Fiction. His own eponymous film studio declared bankruptcy in March 2018.
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