NEW YORK (AP) — Harvey Weinstein is scheduled to appear in a New York court on Friday ahead of a scheduled retrial on rape and sexual assault charges.
A pretrial hearing for the former Hollywood movie mogul in Manhattan Criminal Court is expected to address issues related to evidence in the case, including text messages.
At a hearing last week, prosecutors said they expect the case to be retried in November. They told Judge Curtis Farber they are continuing to actively pursue their new case against Weinstein but acknowledged they have not yet presented any findings to a grand jury.
Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, argued that the investigation was merely a delaying tactic.
Earlier this year, the New York Supreme Court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction, ruling that the trial judge improperly allowed testimony against him based on charges unrelated to the case.
The guilty verdict was seen as a landmark in the era of the #MeToo movement, which began in 2017 amid numerous sexual misconduct allegations against the once-powerful studio president who produced “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love.”
Weinstein was convicted of third-degree rape in 2006 for assaulting an aspiring actress and for forcing himself on a television and film production assistant. He denies any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors have said one of the plaintiffs in the case, Jessica Mann, is prepared to testify against Weinstein again. Gloria Allred, the lawyer for the second plaintiff, Mimi Haley, said last week that her client had not yet decided whether to take part in the retrial.
The Associated Press does not typically publish the names of people who allege sexual assault unless they agree to be named, as Ms. Haley and Ms. Munn did.
Weinstein, 72, is incarcerated on Rikers Island, and Aidala alleges that Weinstein suffers from diabetes, macular degeneration and fluid in his lungs and heart, and is being denied proper medical care in prison.
Weinstein was convicted of a separate rape charge in Los Angeles in 2022 and is serving a 16-year sentence in California. In an appeal filed in the state last month, his lawyers argued he did not receive a fair trial in that case.
