Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein rolled into a Manhattan court in a wheelchair Wednesday as prosecutors said they may have more claims of sexual misconduct before his retrial on rape and sexual assault charges.
An appeals court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction, which sent him to prison for 23 years, in April, as CrimeOnline reported. The New York ruling does not affect his conviction in a California court, where the 72-year-old was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Prosecutors said at Wednesday’s hearing they are evaluation the additional claims they’ve received and may seek a new indictment, The Associated Press reported. Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg told Judge Curtis Farber they would have better information by the end of June. Farber set another hearing for July 9.
The retrial is tentatively scheduled for after Labor Day.
Earlier in the hearing, Farber told attorneys from both sides to “refrain from pandering to the press,” saying the case will “not be decided in the court of public opinion” but in the court of justice.
The comments came after the district attorney’s office complained about disparaging remarks made last week by Weinstein’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, about one of Weinstein’s accusers, Miriam Haley, a former TV and film production assistant. Aidala apologized in court but said he must defend his client against “lies (that) were told at the last trial, and will be told at this one.”
On May 1, Aidala called Haley a liar and said he planned an aggressive cross-examination “if she dares to come and show her face here.”
Haley did not attend Wednesday’s hearing, and her attorney, Gloria Allred, said she has not decided whether to testify again.
