New York –
Harvey Weinstein will remain locked up in New York as a court decides whether he should remain in a city jail while awaiting trial or be sent to California to be sentenced spent prison for rape there.
The fallen movie mogul, who appeared for the hearing in a wheelchair and wearing a dark suit, disagreed with California’s extradition request at a brief court hearing Thursday. The 72-year-old will remain behind bars at Rikers Island jail, where he was returned from a city hospital just days ago.
California must now sign a warrant with the governor within 90 days, said Judge Joanne Watters.
“They can’t extradite Mr. Weinstein because they didn’t do what they have to do,” Diana Fabi Samson, Weinstein’s lawyer, said outside court after the appearance.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Weinstein, referred questions about the extension to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Watters scheduled Weinstein’s next appearance on the trial to be extended for August 7 – just weeks before New York prosecutors said they might be ready to try him again.
The 16-year sentence Weinstein received in California in 2023 for raping a woman at a 2013 film festival in Los Angeles was on ice while serving a 23-year rape sentence in New York .
After the Empire State conviction was overturned late last month, Manhattan prosecutors said they were working to bring it back, and that at least one of the two prosecutors was willing to testify again .
The once-powerful former film executive has denied the New York charges, which accused him of raping and sexually assaulting an aspiring actor in 2013. TV and film production sponsor in 2006. The 2020 decision was announced at the time as a milestone in the #MeToo Movement, a period that began in 2017 with a flood of accusations against Weinstein.
In vacating the convictions, New York’s highest court found that the trial judge prejudiced Weinstein with improper rulings, including by allowing other women to testify about charges he was not charged with.
Weinstein’s representatives said Thursday that their main concern is to ensure that he receives the medical care he needs while in custody in New York.
“He’s holding up as well as expected under the circumstances of being incarcerated with health issues,” Samson said.
Weinstein was serving his time in a high jail in New York until he was transferred to city custody following the appeals court’s decision. He was then sent to Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital, where his publicist says he was treated for pneumonia and other medical issues. He was transferred back to Rikers on Monday.
Craig Rothfeld, a prison consultant working with Weinstein’s lawyers, confirmed that the decision on where Weinstein should be made was made solely by city officials without the help of his legal team.
“There have been a lot of rumors about a cushy room. There have been false reports about what that room is like,” he said. “He has serious health problems. Since the day he was incarcerated, he has been in a hospital setting, so it is not the statement that he shouldn’t be in Bellevue is actually a statement that makes sense.”
2024-05-09 20:56:33
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