FILE — Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, July 9, 2024. Weinstein has a pretrial status hearing in Manhattan criminal court, Friday, July 19, 2024. (Curtis Means /Pool Photo via AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) – A judge on Friday tentatively scheduled Harvey Weinstein’s planned retrial on rape and sexual assault charges to begin on Nov. 12.
Weinstein wore an American flag pin on his jacket during a brief appearance at a courthouse in Manhattan, which was delayed by about a half hour.
The former Hollywood movie mogul’s pretrial hearing in Manhattan criminal court was scheduled to address issues related to evidence in the case, including text messages.
At a hearing last week, prosecutors said they anticipated a November retrial. They told Judge Curtis Farber that they were still actively pursuing new claims against Weinstein, though they conceded that they hadn’t yet brought any findings to a grand jury.
Weinstein denies sexually assaulting anyone.
New York’s highest court threw out Weinstein’s 2020 conviction earlier this year, ruling that the original trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that weren’t part of the case.
The conviction had been considered a landmark in the #MeToo movement, an era that began in 2017 amid numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against the once powerful studio boss behind “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love.”
Weinstein had been convicted of rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actress and of forcing himself on a TV and film production assistant in 2006. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors have said one of the accusers in that case, Jessica Mann, is prepared to testify against Weinstein again. Gloria Allred, a lawyer for the second accuser, Mimi Haley, said last week that her client hadn’t yet decided whether to participate in the retrial.
The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as Haley and Mann did.
Weinstein, 72, is jailed on Rikers Island. His attorney, Arthur Aidala, has complained that Weinstein hasn’t been getting proper care in jail for diabetes, macular degeneration and fluid in his lungs and heart.
Weinstein also was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and is still sentenced to 16 years in prison in California. In an appeal filed there last month, his lawyers argued he didn’t get a fair trial in that case.
