Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s trials are never-ending. He is scheduled to appear in a New York court Friday ahead of a planned retrial on rape and sexual assault charges. According to a report in PTI, the pretrial hearing in Manhattan criminal court will address issues related to evidence in the case, including text messages.
At a hearing last week, prosecutors said they anticipate a November retrial. They told Judge Curtis Farber they are still actively pursuing new claims against Weinstein, though the prosecutors conceded they hadn’t yet brought any findings to a grand jury. Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, argued the investigation was simply a delay tactic.
New York’s highest court threw out Weinstein’s 2020 conviction earlier this year, ruling that the original trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that weren’t part of the case. The conviction had been considered a landmark in the #MeToo movement. This era began in 2017 amid numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against the once-powerful studio boss behind “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love”.
Weinstein had been convicted of rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actress and of forcing himself on a TV and film production assistant in 2006. He has denied any wrongdoing. Prosecutors have said one of the accusers in that case, Jessica Mann, is prepared to testify against Weinstein again.
Gloria Allred, a lawyer for the second accuser, Mimi Haley, said last week that her client hadn’t decided whether to participate in the retrial. The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as Haley and Mann did. Weinstein, 72, is jailed on Rikers Island. Aidala has said he suffers from diabetes, macular degeneration and fluid in his lungs and heart and has complained that Weinstein isn’t receiving adequate medical care in jail. Weinstein also was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and is still sentenced to 16 years in prison in California. In an appeal filed there last month, his lawyers argued he didn’t get a fair trial in that case.
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