Harvey Weinstein indicted on new criminal charges
Manhattan prosecutors charged Harvey Weinstein on new criminal counts after the New York Court of Appeals reversed his rape conviction.
Harvey Weinstein has won a court ruling in his favor after transferring in and out of the hospital several times while serving his jail sentence.
A New York judge on April 17 ruled the disgraced Hollywood producer, 73, can be transferred from Rikers Island to Bellevue Hospital’s prison ward in Manhattan as his retrial moves forward in criminal court. In a statement to USA TODAY on Friday, Weinstein’s lawyer Imran H. Ansari addressed the news.
“Harvey Weinstein is pleased with the Court’s Order directing the City to transfer him from Rikers Island to Bellevue Hospital so he can receive the medical treatment he needs as he begins his trial. It is without question that Rikers Island is the prime example of a deficient and dangerous prison,” Ansari said in the statement.
His lawyers added: “Mr. Weinstein has suffered tremendously within its walls and no human in his medical condition, no matter what they are accused of, should be treated so inhumanely and without any regard to the protections of our Constitution.”
USA TODAY has reached out to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The Miramax cofounder has experienced a spate of health issues in recent years. A November filing from one of Weinstein’s lawyers listed medical problems such as chronic myeloid leukemia (bone marrow cancer), diabetes, coronary artery disease, obstructive sleep apnea, thyroid issues, obesity, high blood pressure and chronic back pain. The lawyer, Imran H. Ansari, accused Rikers Island Correctional Facility of having “failed to render proper medical treatment.”
Last July, Weinstein was transferred to Bellevue Hospital for “myriad” health conditions and tested positive for COVID-19. He also contracted double pneumonia while he was hospitalized. In September, he was rushed to the hospital and underwent emergency heart surgery.
Weinstein has been transported to New York City’s Bellevue Hospital several times since he was sentenced to 23 years in prison following his conviction on rape charges in February 2020. The New York Court of Appeals judges threw out the conviction last year after determining the judge overseeing the trial had allowed “irrelevant” testimony from women whose allegations were not part of the case.
Harvey Weinstein’s hospital transfer happens amid his rape, sex crime retrial
Weinstein’s retrial is now underway with jury selection. He has pleaded not guilty to the three charges, which include criminal sex act in the first degree and third-degree rape.
At the center of the retrial are three women, with two alleging that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on them in 2006 and another who claims he raped her in 2013.
Since the #MeToo movement snowballed in 2017 with sexual assault allegations against the “Shakespeare in Love” producer, Weinstein has repeatedly denied all claims that he engaged in nonconsensual sex acts.
In August 2024, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul determined Weinstein could remain in New York until the end of his case, at which point he would be transferred back to California to serve a 16-year prison sentence stemming from his 2022 conviction in Los Angeles.
This story has been updated with new information.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to survivors and their loved ones in English and Spanish at: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.
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