Harvey Weinstein back in court as judge set to decide #MeToo retrial start
Harvey Weinstein back in court as judge set to decide #MeToo retrial start
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Disgraced producer wants extra charge involving allegation from woman who was not in original case throw out. Harvey Weinstein is due back in court Wednesday as a judge is set to decide when the disgraced movie mogul’s #MeToo retrial will start and whether it will include an allegation involving a woman who wasn’t in the original case.
Weinstein, 72, wants the extra charge thrown out, arguing through lawyers that Manhattan prosecutors only brought it to bolster their case with a third accuser after New York’s highest court overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women.
Judge Curtis Farber is expected to rule on that and other matters, including the trial date – a task that’s been complicated by an increasingly crowded court calendar. Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, is representing conservative strategist Steve Bannon in a border wall fraud trial that’s set to start 4 March before a different Manhattan judge. Meanwhile, Farber has a murder trial in March.
Before Bannon’s trial date was set last week, Aidala had suggested that Weinstein’s trial go first in “the interest of humanity”, citing the ex-studio boss’ declining health. Weinstein is being treated for numerous medical conditions, including chronic myeloid leukemia and diabetes.
