Harvey Weinstein, battling cancer, appeared disheveled in court for his upcoming rape retrial in New York.
Weinstein was seen smirking in court on Wednesday, wearing a stained navy suit. At the hearing, the judge ruled on issues including accuser testimony and expert witnesses. Weinstein, 72, arrived late after the judge met with lawyers privately.
They talked about letting two accusers testify about other alleged incidents. They discussed evidence of the accusers’ sexual history, which prosecutors want barred, citing New York’s Rape Shield Law.
Weinstein’s retrial begins April 15 in Manhattan. New York overturned his 2020 conviction on charges of rape and sexual assault. In January, Weinstein asked the court to move the trial up, saying his health declines quickly. He claimed prison is hurting him and begged the judge to move the trial faster, stating it felt like a mystery he could still walk. He wants justice and an end to this.
Weinstein, a disgraced producer, faces a new trial and is accused of more sex crimes in New York. He arrived in court in a wheelchair, wearing a stained suit and carrying papers. Before the hearing, he waited while the judge resolved another matter first.
The charges include forced oral sex; one involves an assistant in 2006, another is the rape of an actor in 2013. The added charge is from last September and involves him allegedly forcing oral sex on a woman in 2006.
The DA said this woman came forward just before the first trial, but she wasn’t part of that case initially.
Prosecutors didn’t pursue her allegations initially, but when Weinstein’s conviction got overturned, they revisited the case and secured a new indictment. The judge decided to combine everything. Weinstein’s lawyers say things aren’t fair, claiming prosecutors waited to bring the new charge, saving it if the conviction failed.
The New York Times reported on Weinstein in 2017, with many actresses alleging abuse by him. Alyssa Milano asked women to share “Me Too,” and actresses like Paltrow shared stories. “Me Too” was first used by Tarana Burke in 2006. Media executives lost their jobs then, and there were questions about investigating accusations. Weinstein was at the center of it all and became the face of abuse of power.
Weinstein denies raping or assaulting anyone. A jury convicted him in 2020 on two criminal charges: rape and sexual assault, and he received 23 years in prison. Later, the New York Court of Appeals overruled this.
The court said he didn’t get a fair trial because prosecutors called women who made unrelated accusations, which “destroyed” his character unfairly. So they took another look at the case and got a new indictment, including the third alleged victim.
This hearing is separate from his 2022 LA conviction, where he got 16 years for rape and assault. He’s been at Rikers Island prison since the LA case made him a sex offender. His lawyers appealed this verdict in June.
Weinstein faces serious health issues now and has left prison rarely in two years, mostly to visit the hospital. He has chronic myeloid leukemia, a bone marrow cancer. He had emergency heart surgery recently, and fluid built up in his lungs and heart, making him near death and wheelchair-bound. Covid-19, pneumonia, and diabetes have also affected him.
Weinstein called Rikers Island “medieval” in court and said he “won’t be there for April,” citing his cancer as the main issue.
In 2017, the NY Times reported settlements with eight women, and Weinstein’s company fired him. His wife left him, and the #MeToo movement emerged then. In 2018, he was arrested and charged with rape. He pleaded not guilty to these charges.
Weinstein agreed to pay $25 million in 2019 to women accusing him of wrongdoing. In 2020, Los Angeles filed criminal charges, and his New York trial started. A jury convicted him of rape and sexual assault.
He was sentenced in March 2020, which included 23 years in prison. His Los Angeles trial began in 2022, where a jury convicted him of rape that year. This resulted in 16 more years in prison.
In 2024, his New York conviction got overturned, and the appeals court demanded a new trial. Prosecutors announced new charges in September, and in 2025, he was back in court ahead of his new trial in New York.