Harvey Weinstein's NYC sex crimes cases to be consolidated into 1 trial, judge rules

NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein’s Manhattan sex crimes cases will be tried at the same trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.

At a brief hearing, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber granted a request from the district attorney’s office to consolidate a recently filed charge against Weinstein with the 2018 case they are retrying. Weinstein’s lawyers had opposed the effort.

Prosecutors last month announced a new indictment against the disgraced Hollywood producer, accusing him of first-degree criminal sexual act for allegedly assaulting an unnamed woman between April and May 2006.

DA Alvin Bragg’s office in May said it would retry Weinstein on first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape charges after the New York Court of Appeals threw out his 2020 conviction and subsequent 23-year sentence based on testimony permitted by the trial court judge concerning allegations for which he was not charged.

The older case concerns accusations Weinstein raped former aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013 and sexually assaulted former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006.

Weinstein, 72, who was recently diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, according to his attorneys, denies all allegations.

Looking out at spectators in the gallery, he appeared fragile as court officers brought him in and out of the courtroom in a wheelchair at Wednesday’s proceedings. He wore a navy suit and a light blue tie and carried a copy of former President Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land.”

Following his New York conviction, Weinstein was found guilty of separate rape and sexual assault charges in Los Angeles in December 2022. In that case, he was sentenced to 16 years, which he’s expected to continue serving after the resolution of his New York matters.

His second Manhattan trial, which had tentatively been set for Nov. 12, will likely occur in late winter or early spring 2025. Prosecutors on Wednesday said they could be ready for mid-January, but Weinstein’s attorneys asked for it to be scheduled in March or April.

Outside court, Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, said the defense planned to attack when prosecutors knew about the accuser in the new case and why her allegations weren’t included at the producer’s 2020 trial.

“I think when prosecutors know that there are complaining witnesses, you’re supposed to present them to a grand jury and then to a trial,” Aidala said.

“Not that you’re going to play this game where, well, if we don’t convict him with this jury on these complainants, we’ll still have another jury, which may be more in our favor for the different complainant. So we will be looking to challenge this in every way that we possibly can.”

Aidala declined to discuss specifics about the jailed moviemaker’s ailing health.

“Mr. Weinstein is a fighter, and he’s here to fight this case, and he’s going to fight with every ounce of strength in his body,” the lawyer said, adding that he hoped Weinstein would receive appropriate care while incarcerated on Rikers Island and in Bellevue Hospital’s prison ward.

Aidala said Weinstein’s legal team did not know the woman’s identity in the case brought last month. In court, he said he planned to hire a private investigator.

Lindsay Goldbrum, an attorney representing the woman referred to in court papers as Jane Doe, welcomed Wednesday’s ruling.

“We are pleased with the court’s decision to consolidate the two indictments. While Ms. Doe has previously chosen not to publicly share this painful portion of her experience, she has always remained consistent in her conversations with the Manhattan DA’s office and maintains that this encounter was not consensual,” Goldbrum said in a statement.

“Ms. Doe wants her privacy to be respected while she prepares for her testimony.”

Weinstein’s undoing came in late 2017 after exposés in The New Yorker and The New York Times alleged he’d sexually abused, raped and tormented scores of young women throughout his career, supercharging the global #MeToo movement against workplace sexual harassment.

Weinstein is due back in court on Jan. 29, when Farber will rule on defense motions.

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