Harvey Weinstein will remain in custody in New York while awaiting retrial on rape and sexual assault charges in Manhattan, prosecutors confirmed on Monday. The former movie mogul made a brief court appearance related to California’s request to extradite him there, but will stay in New York until his case in New York County is adjudicated.
After the New York case is complete, Weinstein will return to California to serve his pending 16-year sentence for a separate rape conviction there first, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz. Weinstein, who has denied the allegations against him, was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 while already serving a 23-year sentence in New York. However, his 2020 conviction in Manhattan was thrown out this spring by the state’s top court, which ruled that the judge in the original trial unfairly allowed testimony against Weinstein based on allegations that weren’t part of the case.
The retrial in Manhattan is tentatively scheduled for November. Weinstein, 72, appeared in Queens criminal court for less than five minutes on Monday, handcuffed to his wheelchair and holding a book and a magazine. He will remain at the nearby Rikers Island jail complex, where he returned after being hospitalized last month for health problems including COVID-19 and pneumonia in both lungs.
Prosecutors in Manhattan have indicated their intention to bring new sexual assault charges against Weinstein, but have not provided more details or a timeline for bringing the potential new charges. Weinstein's lawyer has raised questions about the strength of the current case in light of the prosecutors' mention of new accusers.