New York.- Harvey Weinstein has been indicted on new criminal charges in New York, a prosecutor said in court on Thursday, as the Manhattan district attorney’s office prepares to retry the former movie mogul following the overturning of his rape conviction, Reuters reported.
“We informed the defense just before we were in court this morning that the grand jury has indicted Mr. Weinstein,” prosecutor Nicole Blumberg said.
Manhattan jurors found Weinstein, 72, guilty of rape charges in 2020, but the New York Court of Appeals threw out the conviction in April, finding he did not receive a fair trial because a judge improperly allowed testimony from accusers he was not formally accused of assaulting. Manhattan prosecutors said in July they were investigating more violent sexual assaults allegedly committed by Weinstein after more women agreed to testify against the Miramax studio co-founder.
Weinstein has denied having non-consensual sexual encounters with anyone.
Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg did not specify the new charges facing the former producer during a hearing before Judge Curtis Farber in New York state court in Manhattan. Farber has tentatively set a trial date for Nov. 12 but has said he is open to considering an earlier start. Weinstein attorney Arthur Aidala said it was unfair for prosecutors to try to add additional victims to the case after the conviction was overturned. He said his client has faced serious health issues, including emergency open-heart surgery, which has complicated his condition. Aidala said Weinstein “nearly died” during this recent medical episode and now wears a chest shunt connected to a bag to drain fluids. The “Kill Bill” producer’s health has significantly deteriorated in recent years, according to his representatives, and he is confined to a wheelchair due to back problems. Despite the overturning of his conviction in New York, Weinstein has remained in custody at the Rikers Island jail complex because of a separate rape conviction in California. He was moved to the prison ward of a New York hospital in July with multiple ailments, including COVID-19. Weinstein’s initial conviction in New York was a milestone for the #MeToo movement, in which women have accused hundreds of men in entertainment, media, politics and other fields of sexual misconduct. A jury found that Weinstein sexually assaulted former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and raped aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013. They are among more than 80 women who have accused him of sexual misconduct. Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for the New York case and 16 years in prison for the separate California case. In that case, a Los Angeles jury found Weinstein guilty of rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration with a foreign object involving a woman but acquitted him of charges related to a second accuser. The judge overseeing the case declared a mistrial on the charges on which the jury could not reach a verdict, including allegations made by Siebel Newsom, the wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The California sentence was not affected by the New York high court’s decision. Weinstein has not begun serving the California sentence.
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