NEW YORK: Harvey Weinstein is due back in court in New York on Wednesday for a hearing ahead of his retrial on sex crimes charges stemming from his landmark #MeToo case.
Among other things, Judge Curtis Farber is expected to address a request from prosecutors to consolidate that case with a newer charge into a single trial.
The former movie mogul was already facing retrial on two sex crime charges after the state’s highest court overturned his 2020 conviction earlier this year. Then in September, he was hit with a new charge accusing him of another assault. He has pleaded not guilty.
Weinstein was convicted on charges — since overturned — that he forcibly performed oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006, and rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actor in 2013. In the new charge, prosecutors say he forced oral sex on a different woman in a Manhattan hotel in the spring of 2006.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has argued in court filings that holding separate trials would be “extraordinarily inefficient” and waste judicial resources. Prosecutors said the cases have significant overlap as they involve similar criminal statutes, witnesses, expert testimony and documentary evidence.
Weinstein’s lawyers have argued in court filings that the cases should remain separate. They said prosecutors are attempting to “expand the scope” of the court-ordered retrial and transform it into “an entirely new proceeding” by including the new charges.
There’s also the question of when Weinstein’s retrial is expected to actually begin.
Faber had tentatively scheduled Weinstein’s trial to open on Nov. 12, but both defense lawyers and prosecutors have voiced concerns that the date won’t give their side enough time to prepare.
Weinstein has been in custody at the city’s Rikers Island jail complex and has faced numerous health complications while behind bars.
He was also convicted of rape in Los Angeles in 2022, though his lawyers have appealed.
The sexual assault and harassment allegations against Weinstein turbocharged the #MeToo movement in 2017.
The 72-year-old former producer co-founded the film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company. He produced such films as “Shakespeare in Love” and “The Crying Game.”
Harvey Weinstein due back in court for hearing ahead of retrial
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Harvey Weinstein due back in court for hearing ahead of retrial
- Weinstein was convicted on charges — since overturned — that he forcibly performed oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006, and rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actor in 2013
French minister pledges tight security at rally for killed activist
- Deranque’s death has fomented tensions ahead of municipal elections next month and presidential polls next year
- Macron has said there was no place in France “for movements that adopt and legitimize violence“
LYON: French police will be out in force at a weekend rally for a slain far-right activist, the interior minister said Friday, as the country seeks to contain anger over the fatal beating blamed on the hard left.
Quentin Deranque, 23, died from head injuries after being attacked by at least six people on the sidelines of a protest against a politician from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party in the southeastern city of Lyon last week.
His death has fomented tensions ahead of municipal elections next month and presidential polls next year, in which the far-right National Rally (RN) party is seen as having its best chance yet at winning the top job.
President Emmanuel Macron, who is serving his last year in office, has said there was no place in France “for movements that adopt and legitimize violence,” and urged the far right and hard left to clean up their act.
Deranque’s supporters have called for a march in his memory on Saturday in Lyon.
The Greens mayor of Lyon asked the state to ban it, but Interior Minister Laurent Nunez declined to do so.
Nunez said he had planned an “extremely large police deployment” with reinforcements from outside the city to ensure security at the rally expected to be attended by 2,000 to 3,000 people, and likely to see counter-protesters from the hard left show up.
“I can only ban a demonstration when there are major risks of public disorder and I am not in a position to contain them,” he told the RTL broadcaster.
“My role is to strike a balance between maintaining public order and freedom of expression.”
- ‘Fascist demonstration’ -
Jordan Bardella, the president of anti-immigration RN, has urged party members not to go.
“We ask you, except in very specific and strictly supervised local situations (a tribute organized by a municipality, for example), not to attend these gatherings nor to associate the National Rally with them,” he wrote in a message sent to party officials and seen by AFP.
LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard backed the mayor’s call for a ban, warning on X it would be a “fascist demonstration” that “over 1,000 neo-Nazis from all over Europe” were expected to attend.
Two people, aged 20 and 25, have been charged with intentional homicide in relation to the fatal beating, according to the Lyon prosecutor and their lawyers.
A third suspect has been charged with complicity in the killing.
Jacques-Elie Favrot, a 25-year-old former parliamentary assistant to LFI lawmaker Raphael Arnault, has admitted to having been present at the scene but denied delivering the blows that killed Deranque, his attorney said.
Favrot said “it was absolutely not an ambush, but a clash with a group of far-right activists,” he added.
Italy’s hard-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday said the killing of Deranque was “a wound for all of Europe.”
Referring to her comments, Macron said everyone should “stay in their own lane,” but Meloni later said that Macron had misinterpreted her comments.
Opinion polls put the far right in the lead for the presidency in 2027, when Macron will have to step down after the maximum two consecutive terms in office.
