Prosecutors are probing “further violent sexual assaults” they are saying former Hollywood film mogul Harvey Weinstein dedicated and intend to hunt a brand new indictment after his earlier conviction was overturned, a prosecutor mentioned on Tuesday.
Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg mentioned in a listening to earlier than Choose Curtis Farber in New York state felony court docket in Manhattan that the extra assaults Weinstein allegedly dedicated had been nonetheless throughout the statute of limitations to be charged as crimes.
Weinstein was discovered responsible on rape allegations in 2020 in a milestone for the #MeToo motion, through which girls accused lots of of males in leisure, media, politics and different fields of sexual misconduct.
A jury discovered the 72-year-old Miramax movie studio co-founder sexually assaulted former manufacturing assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and raped aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013. They’re amongst greater than 80 girls who’ve accused him of sexual misconduct. He was sentenced to 23 years in jail.
However the New York Court docket of Appeals in April discovered that Choose James Burke, who presided over the trial, made a essential mistake by permitting three girls to testify about alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein that weren’t a part of the felony expenses in opposition to him.
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The court docket mentioned that testimony about “prior unhealthy acts” violated his proper to a good trial.
Weinstein has denied having non-consensual encounters with anybody. Arthur Aidala, Weinstein’s lawyer, mentioned on Tuesday it was unfair for prosecutors to hunt so as to add further victims to the case after the conviction was overturned.
“As soon as once more we’ve a hotline: ‘1-800 Get Harvey,’” Aidala mentioned in court docket.
Weinstein is affected by a bunch of medical issues whereas being held in solitary confinement at New York Metropolis’s Rikers Island jail, Aidala mentioned. He accused prosecutors of utilizing delay ways to maintain Weinstein incarcerated, which Blumberg denied.
“As we mentioned in 2020, there have been girls who weren’t able to proceed with the authorized course of. A few of these girls at the moment are able to proceed,” Blumberg mentioned.
Weinstein was additionally sentenced to 16 years following a separate rape trial in California. The 2 sentences can’t be served concurrently.
Miramax’s hit films included “Shakespeare in Love” and “Pulp Fiction.” Weinstein’s personal eponymous movie studio filed for chapter in March 2018.
–Reporting by Jack Queen in New York; Modifying by Invoice Berkrot
