Harvey Weinstein appears in court after New York rape conviction overturned

Harvey Weinstein arrived at a Manhattan courthouse Wednesday, his first appearance since his 2020 rape conviction was overturned by an appeals court last week.

Weinstein, wearing a navy blue suit, was seated in a wheelchair pushed by a court officer as he entered the preliminary hearing in Manhattan that is expected to include discussion of evidence, scheduling and other matters, according to Weinstein’s attorney, Arthur Aidala.

Aidala said Weinstein was attending the hearing despite the 72-year-old having been hospitalized since shortly after his return to the city jail system Friday from an upstate prison. He has said Weinstein, who has cardiac issues and diabetes, was undergoing unspecified tests because of his health issues.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has said it is determined to retry the case against Weinstein. Legal experts say that may be a long road and come down to whether the women he’s accused of assaulting are willing to testify again. One of the women, Mimi Haley, said Friday she was still considering whether she would testify at any retrial.

Prosecutors said one of the accusers, Jessica Mann, was in court Wednesday and asked the judge for an early fall date for retrial.

Aidala said Saturday that he plans to tell the judge that he believes a trial could occur any time after Labor Day.

The once-powerful studio boss was also convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and is still sentenced to another 16 years in prison in California.

In the New York case that is now overturned, he was convicted of rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actor in 2013, and of forcing himself on Haley, a former Project Runway production assistant, in 2006. Weinstein had pleaded not guilty and maintained any sexual activity was consensual.

The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as Haley and Mann have.

On Thursday, the New York Court of Appeals vacated his conviction in a 4-3 decision, erasing his 23-year prison sentence, after concluding a trial judge permitted jurors to see and hear too much evidence not directly related to what he was charged with.

The ruling shocked and disappointed women who celebrated historic gains during the era of #MeToo, a movement that ushered in a wave of sexual misconduct claims in Hollywood and beyond.

First Published: May 02 2024 | 7:33 AM IST