Weinstein to be retried in New York

NEW YORK: Harvey Weinstein will be retried in New York, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said on Wednesday, a week after the state’s highest court threw out his 2020 rape conviction.

Weinstein appeared in court before Judge Curtis Farber, more than four years after his conviction was hailed as a milestone for the #MeToo movement, in which women accused hundreds of men in entertainment, media, politics and other fields of sexual misconduct.

“There was nothing consensual about this conduct,” prosecutor Nicole Blumberg said. “We believe in this case and will be retrying this case.”

Weinstein, 72, who appeared in a wheelchair, had been serving a 23-year sentence in a prison in upstate Rome, New York. He then was transferred to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan following last week’s order, according to his spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer.

Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, asked that his client be released on bail, saying he is suffering severe health problems and noting that he had been acquitted of first-degree rape. “He was acquitted on the most serious counts,” Aidala said.

In February 2020, jurors in Manhattan convicted Weinstein of sexually assaulting former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and of raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013. They are among more than 80 women who have accused him of sexual misconduct.

Last week, the New York Court of Appeals found that Judge James Burke, who presided over the trial, made a critical mistake by allowing three women to testify about alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein that were not part of the criminal charges against him. The court said this “prior bad acts” testimony violated his right to a fair trial.