NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan prosecutors told a judge Wednesday they are reviewing further allegations of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein and may seek new charges against him ahead of his scheduled retrial on rape and sexual assault charges.
Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg said during the court hearing that more people have come forward with assault allegations and prosecutors are currently assessing which cases fall under the statute of limitations.
She said some potential victims who were not prepared to testify during Weinstein’s first trial in New York may now be willing to do so.
Asked by Judge Curtis Farber if prosecutors might file new charges, Blumberg replied, “Yes, your judge.”
Bloomberg said prosecutors would be in a position to inform the court on the direction of the case by the end of June.
Judge Farber set the next hearing date for July 9. A retrial on the rape charge is tentatively scheduled for sometime after Labor Day.
Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, told reporters outside the court after the hearing that his client was confident prosecutors would not find any new accusers to bolster their case.
“We know he has never done anything like this,” Aidala said of Weinstein.
Weinstein appeared in New York City court Former President Donald Trump to go on trialentered the courtroom in a wheelchair, as he has done at other recent court hearings. 2020 convictions I was kicked out.
Weinstein’s lawyers have said he has suffered health problems throughout his prison sentence. He is currently being held in New York City’s Rikers Island prison.
At the start of the hearing, Farber mentioned the letter from prosecutors. last week Before the retrial began, Weinstein’s defense team asked the court to warn them not to publicly discuss or disparage potential witnesses.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office alleges that Aidala made the comments earlier this month with the intent to intimidate Miriam Haley, a former television and film production assistant whom Weinstein was convicted of sexually assaulting.
Weinstein’s lawyer, Aidala, apologized to the judge, saying he had no intention of intimidating anyone.
But he said his client was entitled to a “strong defence” and that the defence’s position was that “they lied at the last trial and they will lie at this trial”.
Aidala argued that lawyers for Weinstein’s accusers have been holding press conferences criticizing Weinstein throughout the legal battle.
“Who is going to stand up for Harvey Weinstein?” he asked in court. “Who is going to speak for him?”
Faber responded by instructing both sides to “refrain from pandering to the media” and saying the case would be decided in the court of justice, “not in the court of public opinion.”
Haley did not attend Wednesday’s hearing, expressing her reluctance to go through the trauma of testifying again.
Gloria Allred said outside court that she had not yet decided whether her client would take part in the retrial.
But Allred called on Aidala to apologize to Haley for the “unjust, malicious and false” attacks he made in court early Wednesday morning. Aidala later refused to apologize, telling reporters.
Busy Outside the court On May 1, Aidala said Haley lied to jurors about her motives for coming forward and said his team planned to aggressively cross-examine the issue “if she chooses to come here and show her face.”
Weinstein’s original trial took place in the same courtroom where Trump is now on trial, but the two men were unlikely to meet by chance: Weinstein was in custody and escorted to and from the courtroom by security, and he appeared in a courtroom on a different floor from the one where Trump is currently on trial.
During his 2020 trial, Weinstein was convicted of raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann and sexually assaulting Hailey. But last month, the New York State Supreme Court overturned those convictions, ruling that the judge had improperly admitted testimony against him based on allegations from other women unrelated to the cases. Weinstein, 72, has maintained that any sexual acts were consensual.
The Associated Press does not typically publish the names of people who allege sexual assault unless they agree to be named, as both Ms. Haley and Ms. Munn agreed to.
The New York ruling reopened a painful chapter in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful people. The #MeToo era began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein.
Weinstein, who was serving a 23-year sentence in New York, was convicted of a separate rape charge in Los Angeles in 2022 and also received a 16-year sentence in California.
