Harvey Weinstein is due back in court on Wednesday. The judge will decide if the #MeToo case will start and whether it will include new allegations against a woman who was not involved in the initial case.
Weinstein is 72 years old and wants to dismiss the extra charge. He argues that Manhattan prosecutors only brought it to support their argument against a third accuser after New York’s top court reversed a 2020 conviction for charges of rape and sexual abuse of two women.
Judges are expected to decide on these and other matters, such as the date of the trial. The court calendar is becoming increasingly crowded, making this task more difficult.
Weinstein’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, represents conservative strategist Steve Bannon in a border wall case, scheduled to start March 4 before a Manhattan judge. Farber faces a murder charge in March.
Aidala, who suggested that Weinstein should be tried before Bannon last week for the “interests of humanity,” citing Weinstein’s declining health, made this suggestion just prior to Bannon’s court appearance.
Weinstein has been diagnosed with a variety of medical conditions, including diabetes and chronic myeloid leukemia.
Aidala told the court that, “They know Mr. Weinstein is cancer-free and innocent in New York right now.” He asked: “Can I try this dying man first?”
Weinstein was charged with committing oral sex on a production assistant in 2013 and raping a young actor. A second charge, filed in September of last year, claimed that he committed oral sex on a woman in a Manhattan Hotel back in 2006.
According to court documents from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the woman, who has not been publicly identified, came forward a few weeks before Weinstein’s case began. However, she was not involved in the case.
The prosecution stated that it had not pursued women’s complaints after Weinstein was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison. The prosecution has revisited the accusations and obtained a fresh indictment after the Court of Appeals of the State threw out his conviction last April.
In October, Farber decided to combine the charges of both a new indictment and existing charges into one trial.
Weinstein’s lawyers claim that prosecutors hurt him by delaying adding the charge for almost five years. They claim they delayed adding the charge so that they could use it later, in case Weinstein is convicted.
The prosecution said this was “absurd” and countered that Weinstein’s attorneys would have also been outraged if he had been charged based on the third woman’s allegations, either during his trial or after his conviction.
Weinstein likely would have described this timing as vindictive and gratuitous in a document filed last month.
Alvin Bragg, Manhattan District attorney, said that this allegation was not charged before and “required a sensitive investigation” to be brought forward. It is partially because there are no eyewitnesses, and there’s no physical or scientific proof.
Weinstein, who produced films such as “Pulp fiction”, “The Crying Game” and “Pulp fiction”, was one of Hollywood’s most influential figures.
He was the main villain in the #MeToo Movement that began when women made public their stories about his behavior.
For a long period of time, he has insisted that all sexual activity takes place with consent.
In vacating Weinstein’s conviction, the Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge, James M. Burke, unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the case. Burke is no longer on the bench.
Weinstein has been found guilty of a second rape by Los Angeles in 2022. His 16-year sentence remains in place. However, in June, his lawyers appealed, claiming that he did not receive a fair trial.
Weinstein is still in Rikers Island, New York. He makes occasional hospital visits to receive medical attention, while awaiting his retrial.
