NEW YORK – Next month’s retrial of Harvey Weinstein is primarily an original summary version, with one major addition: accusations based on allegations from women who were not part of the first case.
However, at a major hearing Wednesday, the disgraceful film mogul’s lawyer warned that the past was not a prologue and was largely irrelevant, as Weinstein’s 2020 rape and sexual assault beliefs were overturned.
“We can take that transcript and all the judge’s decisions and throw them in the trash,” argued Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Adara. “That trial was declared illegal by the highest court in the state.”
The New York Court of Appeals abandoned Weinstein’s conviction last year and set the stage for a retrial in Manhattan state court. Another claim was added in September based on the claim from the third accuser. The trial will begin on April 15th, and prosecutors say it could take about five weeks.
A retry began to form on Wednesday as Judge Curtis Farber ruled on many notable issues, including expert testimony and the language used to describe the accuser.
What issues did you face before the judge?
Farber has admitted the prosecutor’s request to call on psychologist Dawn Hughes as an expert witness on the psychological and traumatic effects of rape and sexual assault. Hughes previously testified as actress Amber Heard in the 2022 Johnny Depp’s honorable lib loss trial against Heard as a prosecutor’s witness in the 2021 federal sex trafficking trial of singer R. Kelly in Brooklyn.
The judge also granted a defence request that ruled out the term “survivor” being used to describe Weinstein’s accuser. He told the prosecutor to instruct officers to testify to call the woman “a complainer” instead.
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Although Weinstein’s conviction from his first trial was abandoned, he was acquitted against the most serious charges – two counts of predatory sexual assault and first-degree or forced rape.
Given that, Faber ordered the prosecutors to instruct one of the accusers who testify at the retrial to avoid using the word “power” when describing her suspected attack.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office wanted to rule out any mentions of Weinstein’s acquittal and conviction, but Farber said he has an obligation to do so depending on the way the accused testifies.
“Does she have to use her strength? Can she explain what happened and let the ju judge draw their own conclusions?” the judge asked. “I’m not asking her to change her testimony from the first trial. I’m asking her to refrain from using the power of words.”
Other decisions were made behind closed doors when Faber met with the prosecutors and defense in his room for more than an hour to discuss the issue that is still sealed.
They included a prosecutor’s request that two of the three accusers in the case would be allowed to testify about their other encounters with Weinstein. They also discussed evidence of the accuser’s sexual history that prosecutors say should be banned under New York’s Rape Shield Act.
Weinstein at the court
Weinstein, 72, was in court for the lawsuit Wednesday, arriving from prison in a wheelchair and suit, holding a pile of documents. Before the public portion of his hearing began, the former studio boss saw Faber spend a few minutes solving another problem that was delayed by the discussion of the closed door.
When he appeared at the final courthouse in January, Weinstein begged Farber to begin a retrial early.
He told the judge that he “don’t know how long it can last” with cancer, heart problems and severe conditions at the Rikers Island Prison Complex in New York City, where he is trapped. Farber said that if the murder trial is wrapping up earlier than planned, he could make a ju judge’s choice a few days earlier.
Weinstein is being retried with accusations of forcing oral sex in 2006 with a film and television production assistant and raping an ambitious actor in 2013.
Prosecutors said in court documents that the woman, who has not been publicly identified, had moved forward to them a few days before Weinstein’s first trial, but was not part of the case. They said that Weinstein did not pursue the woman’s allegations after being convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison, but after his conviction was abandoned, he revisited them and secured a new charge.
Faber ruled in October that he would combine new indictments and existing charges into one trial.
Weinstein’s lawyers alleged that the prosecutors biased him by waiting nearly five years to bring in additional fees, allowing them to use it later in the event that his conviction was reversed, as they chose not to include the motion in his first trial.
Weinstein denied that he had raped or sexually assaulted anyone.
When annuldling Weinstein’s conviction, the Court of Appeal ruled that Judge James M. Burke unfairly permitted testimony against him based on allegations from other women who were not part of the case. As Burke is no longer on the bench, such testimony is not part of the retrial.
Weinstein was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape. Although his 16-year prison sentence remains in that case, his lawyer appealed in June, claiming that he had not received a fair trial.
