NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein appeared in a New York City courthouse on Thursday as authorities considered California’s extradition request to serve his awaiting term for a 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles.
The 16-year sentence Harvey received in 2023 for raping a woman at a 2013 Los Angeles film festival was put on hold while he spent time in New York after being convicted of rape in 2020. However, the Empire State conviction was reversed late last month, erasing the 23-year term.
Harvey Weinstein Is Back In Court As New York Considers California Prison Request.
According to prosecutors and defense attorneys, the hearing in Queens criminal court on Thursday morning, only days after Weinstein left a city hospital, was related to California’s request. Weinstein arrived at the hearing in a wheelchair and wearing a dark suit.
The 72-year-old remains in New York detention while Manhattan’s district attorney seeks to retry him. During a hearing last week, prosecutors stated that they could be ready as early as September and that at least one of the two accused victims was willing to testify again.
Harvey Weinstein Is Back In Court As New York Considers California Prison Request.
In one case, the once-powerful former movie magnate is charged with raping an aspiring actor in 2013 and sexually abusing a TV and film production assistant in 2006. He rejects the charges.
New York’s highest court vacated Weinstein’s conviction, finding that the trial judge prejudiced him with incorrect rulings, including allowing other women to speak about charges he was not charged with.
The 2020 conviction was hailed at the time as a watershed moment in the #MeToo movement, which began in 2017 with a slew of complaints against Weinstein.
Harvey Weinstein Is Back In Court As New York Considers California Prison Request.
Weinstein was sentenced to upstate New York state prison. Following the appeals court verdict, he was transferred to city custody and taken to Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital, where his publicist claims he was treated for pneumonia and other medical conditions. He was sent to the city’s Rikers Island detention complex on Monday.
SOURCE – (AP)
