Less than a week after Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction was tossed by New York’s highest court, the much-accused Pulp Fiction producer is set to be in front of a judge.
Weinstein will appear in Manhattan Supreme Court on May 1, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said late Friday. The hearing in Judge Curtis Farber’s courtroom is set to start at 2:15 p.m. ET.
In a 4-3 ruling on Thursday, the New York Court of Appeals said Weinstein’s conviction and 23-year sentence in the state is to be overturned. Writing for the majority, Judge Jenny Rivera said now ex-Justice James Burke “erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes” four years ago when he was overseeing the trial.
The Appeals Court has ordered a new trial for Weinstein.
The purpose of the May 1 hearing is to release Weinstein from his 2020 conviction and re-arraign him on the sex crimes charges for which he was arrested in 2018. Due to his 2022 conviction in Los Angeles on sex crimes and sentencing to 16 years behind bars after that trial, Weinstein will not be released after Wednesday’s hearing.
“At the Manhattan D.A.’s Office, our Special Victims Division fights each and every day to center survivors, uplift their voices, and seek justice for these horrific crimes,” a spokesperson for D.A. Alvin Bragg told Deadline. “Our mission is to center survivors’ experiences and wellbeing in every decision we make, which we will do as we approach the next steps in this case.”
Moved from a state prison in upstate New York in the past 24 hours, the 72-year-old Weinstein is now with the NYC Department of Corrections at Rikers and is having his medical needs tended to, I hear.
“We are cautiously optimistic and are prepared to go to trial, if it comes to that,” Weinstein spokesperson Juda Engelmayer tells Deadline of his client, who is represented by Arthur Aidala. “There are fewer charges now and the deck isn’t going to be illegally stacked against him. While we all enjoy the same rights when it comes to our justice system, a defendant has an additional right to due process. We are glad the Appeals Court judges saw it that way.”
First charged and arrested for rape in May 2018 after detailed revelations emerged in the New York Times about decades of abuse and alleged assaults by Weinstein, the producer was convicted in February 2020 on first-degree sexual assault and third-degree rape in the case of Mimi Haley and Jessica Mann. The sentence was to be served consecutively.
In a trial that saw Annabella Sciorra and several other women testify about alleged abuse from Weinstein, the producer was also ordered to register as a sex offender, a registration that likely will be removed at the May 1 hearing.
Haley said Friday she was “sick to her stomach” when she learned of the conviction being overturned. Raped by Weinstein in his SoHo apartment in 2006, she was a major witness at the 2020 trial — an experience she is reluctant to revisit.
“I definitely don’t want to actually go through that again,” the Gloria Allred-represented Haley in a press conference today in Los Angeles. “But for the sake of keeping going and doing the right thing, because it is what happened, I would consider it,” she added in a tone similar to the anger expressed by many survivors since the Appeals Court ruling was made public yesterday.
The D.A. might be hoping Haley will be more than considering testifying in an new trial. The fact is without the participation of Haley, it would be very difficult for Bragg’s office to put on a new case.
May 1 will not see Weinstein sharing the Manhattan criminal courts building with former president and old acquaintance Donald Trump. The ex-Celebrity Apprentice host and de facto GOP nominee’s hush-money trial is dark on Wednesdays.
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