The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday that former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein will face a retrial in New York, following the overturning of his 2020 rape conviction by the state’s highest court last week.
Appearing in court before Judge Curtis Farber in a wheelchair and black suit, Weinstein returned more than four years after his conviction, which was initially hailed as a milestone for the #MeToo movement. This movement saw women accusing hundreds of men in various industries, including entertainment, media, and politics, of sexual misconduct.
Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg asserted, “There was nothing consensual about this conduct,” affirming their intention to retry the case.
Weinstein, 72, had been serving a 23-year sentence at an upstate prison in Rome, New York. However, following last week’s order, he was transferred to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, according to his spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer.
Judge Farber remanded Weinstein back into custody, indicating his expectation to conduct a new trial after the Labor Day holiday, without setting a firm date. Labor Day falls on Sept. 2.
Throughout the court hearing, Weinstein remained silent, while his attorney, Arthur Aidala, did not contest his client’s remand. Aidala expressed relief at returning to court, exuding confidence in a potential acquittal: “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.'”
Weinstein is accused of sexually assaulting Miriam Haley, a former production assistant, in 2006, and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013, among other allegations. The conviction in 2020 included charges of first-degree sexual assault and third-degree rape, while he was acquitted on other counts.
Last week, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that Judge James Burke, who oversaw the trial, erred by allowing three women to testify about alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein that were not part of the charges against him. The court deemed this “prior bad acts” testimony a violation of his right to a fair trial.
Weinstein was separately sentenced to 16 years following a rape trial in California. Notably, the two sentences cannot run concurrently, and California law permits prosecutors wider latitude to introduce “prior bad acts” evidence than New York.
With Judge Burke no longer on the bench, any retrial in New York would be overseen by a different judge.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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