Harvey Weinstein Pleads Not Guilty to Additional Sex Offense Charges Before Retrial

Harvey Weinstein was indicted Wednesday in a New York City court on additional sexual misconduct charges, nearly two months before a retrial in the Hollywood producer's landmark #MeToo case.

Weinstein, who arrived at the Manhattan courthouse in a wheelchair, pleaded not guilty to one count of criminal sexual activity in the first degree. He is recovering from emergency heart surgery this month, and his lawyer says he takes 19 medications.

In the New York Penal Code, a criminal sexual act in the first degree concerns engaging in “oral sexual conduct or anal sexual conduct with another person” by “forcible compulsion.” This is a class B felony.

In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the charges stemmed from the alleged sexual assault of a woman at a lower Manhattan hotel between April 29 and May 6, 2006.

“Thanks to this survivor who bravely came forward, Harvey Weinstein has now been charged with an additional alleged violent sexual assault,” Bragg said. “This investigation is ongoing.”

In all, more than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual assault or harassment dating back decades. The allegations inspired the #MeToo movement, a global reckoning with abuses of power across entertainment and other industries. Weinstein has repeatedly denied the claims, insisting that the encounter in question was consensual.

In early 2020, a New York jury convicted Weinstein of third-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual activity against former aspiring actor Jessica Mann and Mimi Haley, a former “Project Runway” production assistant. (He was acquitted of two counts of predatory sexual assault and one count of first-degree rape.)

But in April, the New York State Court of Appeals overturned Weinstein's 23-year prison sentence in a 4-3 decision, blasting the trial judge for testifying about allegations that were not part of the women's complaint. The court argued that the move was “extremely prejudicial”.

“The remedy for these serious errors is a new trial,” the court wrote.

Weinstein's retrial is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12. Haley's attorney, Gloria Allred, said her client agreed to testify against Weinstein again because “he believes it's the right thing to do.” In a statement last week, Mann said she plans to use her “voice” against him.

“I look forward to continuing to use it because I will soon face Harvey again in court and prove that my life is worth living,” Mann said. “That, I now know, is something he will never be able to take away.”

Lindsay M. Goldbram, an attorney for the woman whose grand jury testimony formed the basis of the new indictment, said her client “is fully prepared to tell his truth at trial to hold Mr. Weinstein accountable to a jury of his peers.”

The Manhattan district attorney's office announced in July that it planned to retry Weinstein, and Manhattan prosecutors announced at a court hearing last week that he had been indicted on new charges.

He remains in custody at the Rikers Island prison complex awaiting retrial, but a judge last week granted a defense request to let him stay at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan instead of returning him to the prison's infirmary ward.

In addition to the New York case, Weinstein was convicted of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault in a trial in Los Angeles in late 2022. verdict in three other sexual assault cases.) He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Weinstein's legal team is appealing the ruling in Los Angeles. In both trials, Weinstein pleaded not guilty and chose not to take the witness stand in his own defense.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Weinstein was a titan of the movie business as co-head of Miramax and The Weinstein Co. He styled himself a show business kingmaker, produced seminal independent films (including “Pulp Fiction”) and delivered Oscars. Winning plays like “The English Patient,” “Shakespeare in Love” and “The King's Speech.”

But his reign in Hollywood crumbled in October 2017 after investigative journalists from The New York Times and The New Yorker published articles about allegations of serial sexual misconduct. The flood of complaints inspired other women to come forward with claims about other powerful men in entertainment, finance and other industries.