Harvey Weinstein may face new sexual assault charges in his retrial, which they anticipate to begin in November, prosecutors said in Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office plan on bringing a new grand jury indictment that may include new accusers of Weinstein “before the fall,” although they didn’t give a specific timeframe.
“In 2020 there were women that were not ready to proceed with the legal process,” Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg said at the Tuesday morning hearing. “Some of those women are now ready.”
The disgraced movie mogul’s case hit reset after the New York Court of Appeals overturned his rape and sex crime conviction from four years ago.
Weinstein appeared in court in a wheelchair, looking pale with his hair shaved close to his head. He was clutching a book. Jessica Mann, one of two women Weinstein was found guilty of raping in 2020, was also present.
Arthur Aidala, Weinstein’s attorney, claimed that the prosecutors were using “delay tactics” to push the trial further back.
“They have the defendant and now they’re out there looking for a crime, which as a citizen really troubles me,” Aidala said. “… We have the individual and now we’re up there like they did last time with a hotline: 1-800-GETHARVEY.”
The defense lawyer pushed for a trial date to be set for September, arguing that the defense team was “very confident” in the outcome of the trial, and they wanted to get on with it as soon as possible.
“There is a lot of light at the end of the tunnel for Mr. Weinstein,” Aidala said of Weinstein, 72, who struggles with multiple ailments. “He’s a not a young man, he’s a sick man … All I’m asking for is time. We need to get the ball rolling.”
Aidala read a letter from his doctor going over his client’s medical condition, and indicated that the legal team would try to get Weinstein moved out of Rikers to a state facility.
“Mr. Weinstein has fluid in his heart. Mr. Weinstein has fluid in his lungs.” Aidala read, adding that he has spinal stenosis and that his diabetes is “going through the roof” because of the carb-heavy Rikers diet.
“All I can tell you is he’s not getting the treatment that he needs,” the lawyer said.
Jessica Mann, an accuser who testified in graphic detail to Weinstein’s alleged assault on her, was present in court on Tuesday.
It’s unclear who the complainants will be in the upcoming trial and how many, if any, prosecutions would add to a superseding indictment.
“We’d like to know on the record what the case is at this point,” said Diana Fabi Samson, a lawyer for Weinstein.
Weinstein’s lawyers spoke to reporters outside the courthouse.
“If they felt that their case was strong enough at this point, they wouldn’t need to be getting any evidence,” Aidala said of the D.A.’s lawyers. “He’s an old man. All they need to do is get one conviction, give him a decade in prison, and it’s over. But they need more.”
The lawyer added that despite Weinstein’s physical condition, he’s been reading a new book about 20th Century Fox and the movie industry that “makes him very happy” and sometimes chats with a “kind-hearted corrections officer.”
Justice Curtis Farder set the next hearing for Friday, July 19.
