Harvey Weinstein is looking at a new trial in New York after Labor Day.
The former Hollywood mogul appeared in court in New York Wednesday for the first time since his 2020 rape conviction was overturned. Judge Curtis Farber set a May 29 hearing for discovery and for prosecutors to file a certificate of compliance. If the certificate is filed by that date, the judge anticipated that a trial will begin sometime after Labor Day.
Weinstein was wheeled into the courtroom in a wheelchair, wearing a blue suit with an American flag pin, after having been hospitalized in the days leading up to the hearing. He waved to the first row of attorneys as he was wheeled in and shook their hands as he was wheeled out. He appeared with his attorney Arthur Aidala, in front of a full audience, including Jessica Mann, who testified in the first New York trial.
“Mr. Weinstein has very, very serious medical issues,” Aidala told the judge.
But he added that Weinstein was still mentally sharp, having read “hundreds and hundreds of books” in prison, and could still participate in his own defense.
Assistant D.A. Nicole Blumberg requested that Weinstein be remanded in the case, saying they wanted to retry the case “as quickly as possible.” As part of their arguments, prosecutors said the overturned conviction was not about the “strength of the case” and that they continue to “believe in this case.” They also pointed to Mann.
“She’s here today to show that she’s not backing down and is committed to seeing that justice is served yet again,” Blumberg said.
In addition to Mann, Gloria Allred, the lawyer who represents Miriam Haley, who also brought claims against Weinstein in the trial, was seated in the first few rows of the courtroom, as was Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg.
Weinstein had been held in a prison in upstate New York, but was transferred to the city last week, after the conviction was vacated, and then admitted to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan to undergo tests. He remained under custody there.
The New York State Court of Appeals overturned the former entertainment mogul’s conviction Thursday, finding that the judge in the New York County trial prejudiced Weinstein with improper rulings, including allowing women to testify about allegations that were not part of the case.
During that trial, in February 2020, Weinstein was found guilty of criminal sexual assault in the first degree, based on the testimony of Haley, a former Project Runway production assistant, and rape in the third degree, based on the testimony of onetime aspiring actress Jessica Mann. He was acquitted on three other charges, and was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Weinstein was also convicted by a Los Angeles jury in 2022 on three counts — forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and penetration by foreign object — against Jane Doe No. 1, who has since come forward as former Russian model Evgeniya Chernyshova. That 16-year prison sentence still stands, but could be impacted if New York prosecutors fail to secure a conviction in a retrial or Weinstein succeeds on appeal in California.
