Harvey Weinstein may face new allegations of rape and sexual assault when the former Hollywood movie mogul is tried again in New York, after a state appeals court tossed his 2020 conviction last month.
Since the last trial, other women have “disclosed being sexually assaulted by the defendant,” Nicole Blumberg, a prosecutor for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, told state court Judge Curtis Farber on Wednesday. While some weren’t ready to speak publicly in 2020, they are now, Blumberg said.
The district attorney’s office is speaking to all the women making new claims against Weinstein and will aim to make a decision on whether to file a new indictment against him by the end of June, Blumberg said. Farber previously said the retrial could come as soon as September.
Weinstein, 72, wore a blue suit and tie as he sat in his wheelchair during a short hearing Wednesday in the same courthouse where Donald Trump has been attending his first criminal trial and jurors are now deliberating whether to convict the former president on charges of falsifying business records.
The district attorney vowed to prosecute Weinstein again after the New York Court of Appeals ruled the trial judge erred by allowing three women, who weren’t named as victims in the original indictment, to testify that they had been assaulted by the movie producer.
The success of that appeal marked a stunning turnabout in the highest profile conviction of the #MeToo era, in which dozens of women came forward to say Weinstein had harassed or assaulted them. He’s been serving a 23-year sentence in the New York case and remains in custody, though serious medical issues have meant he’s spent time in a city hospital.
Weinstein also was sentenced to 16 years in California after being found guilty of rape in 2022.
During a May 1 hearing, Blumberg told Farber that the appeals court decision wasn’t about the strength of the case, but the admissibility of certain testimony.
“There was nothing consensual about the conduct in the claims described,” Blumberg said. “We believe in this case and will be retrying this case.”
Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala said earlier this month his client wants to prove his innocence.
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