April 23 (UPI) — Harvey Weinstein was back in a Manhattan courtroom Wednesday, as his retrial for rape and sexual assault began.
Opening statements were delivered to the jury at 10 a.m. They will decide if the Oscar-winning producer will be found guilty again. His previous conviction was thrown out by an appeals court last year, which concluded the jury that convicted him should not have heard evidence from witnesses who alleged sexual misconduct but weren’t included in his indictment.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg then announced he would retry Weinstein with the use of additional testimony from a new witness.
Weinstein will face three accusers during the retrial, two of whom accused him of sexual violence, and he was found guilty of those allegations before the verdicts against him were overturned. The third victim, who has not testified against Weinstein previously, purports he sexually assaulted her in Manhattan hotel room in 2006. He faces a single count of first-degree criminal sexual act in regard to her allegations.
The Law Offices of Aidala, Bertuna and Kamins, P.C., or ABK Law, who are Weinstein’s defense team, posted a video to X Wednesday in which Hon. Barry Kamins, retired, said of lead attorney Arthur Aidala, that his team is “very proud as [Aidala] engages again in the pursuit of justice for Harvey Weinstein,” and that on Thursday, practice partner Imran H. Ansari will be going into civil court to “argue that Mr. Weinstein is in ill health, and he should be remaining in the hospital facility.” The firm posted to X Tuesday it filed an emergency petition “to transfer Weinstein out of Rikers [prison] to Bellevue [hospital].”
Weinstein, who has undergone treatment for cancer and had both heart and lung surgery, had originally been sentenced to 23 years in prison. At age 72, a lengthy term behind bars could be a life sentence for him.
