NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein is expected to appear before a judge Wednesday afternoon at the same New York City courthouse where former President Donald Trump is on trial.
Weinstein is awaiting a new trial on rape charges after his 2020 conviction was thrown out. Wednesday’s court hearing will address several legal issues related to the upcoming trial, which is tentatively scheduled for some time after Labor Day.
The original trial against Weinstein took place in the same courtroom where Trump is now on trial, but the two men are unlikely to meet. Weinstein is in custody and will be taken to and from the courtroom under guard. He will appear in a courtroom on a different floor than where Trump is currently on trial.
Weinstein was convicted of third-degree rape for an attack on Jessica Mann, an aspiring actor, and for sexually assaulting Miriam Haley, a former TV and film production assistant.
But last month, the New York Supreme Court overturned those convictions after finding that the judge improperly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women who were not part of the case. Weinstein, 72, has maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
The New York ruling reopened a painful chapter in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures. The #MeToo era began in 2017 with a flood of accusations against Weinstein.
Last week, prosecutors asked Judge Curtis Farber to remind Weinstein’s lawyers not to publicly discuss or discredit potential witnesses ahead of the retrial.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office argued that Weinstein’s lead attorney, Arthur Aidala, made statements earlier this month that were intended to intimidate Haley.
Speaking outside court on May 1, Aidala said Haley lied to the jury about her motive for coming forward and that his team planned an aggressive cross-examination on the matter “if she dares to come here and show her face.” ”
Aidala did not respond to an email Tuesday seeking comment on Bragg’s request.
Haley has said she doesn’t want to go through the trauma of testifying again, “but to move on and do the right thing and because it is what happened, I would consider it.”
Her attorney, Gloria Allred, declined to comment until she attended Wednesday’s proceedings.
The Associated Press does not generally identify people who claim they have been sexually assaulted unless they agree to be named, as both Haley and Mann have done.
Weinstein, who had served a 23-year prison sentence in New York, was also convicted of another rape in Los Angeles in 2022 and has still been sentenced to 16 years in prison in California.
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Succeed Philip Marcelo twitter.com/philmarcelo.
