Harvey Weinstein due back in court as a key witness weighs whether to testify at a retrial
Harvey Weinstein will appear in court in New York on Wednesday, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
It will be the first court appearance since New York’s highest court on Thursday threw out Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction and ordered a new trial. The Public Prosecution Service has announced that it wants to start a new trial.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual violence,” the office said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a woman he sent to prison for sexual abuse said Friday she was considering whether to testify at a retrial.
Mimi Haley said she is still processing Thursday’s decision by the Court of Appeals and is taking into account numerous factors, including the trauma of having to prepare for a new trial and relive what happened to her has happened.
“It was retraumatizing and grueling and exhausting and all that,” she said during a news conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred. “I definitely don’t want to experience that again. But to be able to move on and do the right thing and because it is what happened, I would consider it.”
Weinstein was convicted in New York in February 2020 of forcing himself on Haley, a TV and film production assistant, for oral sex in 2006 and raping an aspiring actress in 2013.
The Associated Press does not generally identify people who claim they have been sexually assaulted unless they agree to be named and Haley has agreed to be named.
The 72-year-old Weinstein remains in prison because he was convicted of another rape in Los Angeles in 2022. In that case he was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Allred said the decision in New York shows how important it was to bring charges in California as well, even as critics called the prosecution unnecessary.
Weinstein’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Haley’s comments. But on Thursday, he called the state appeals court ruling “a huge victory for every criminal defendant in New York State.”
The court overturned Weinstein’s 23-year sentence in a 4-3 decision, saying that “the trial court improperly admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts” and allowed questions about Weinstein’s “bad behavior” if he had testified. It called this “highly prejudicial” and “an abuse of judicial discretion.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Friday that her office is analyzing the scope of the decision and how the state can ensure all women feel safe coming forward.
“I don’t want this to be a moment where we undermine the environment that was created, where we ultimately allowed people to speak out who abused women in front of them,” Hochul said. “We don’t want to have any setbacks if this happens. I feel like you need to be silenced right now, and that is something we need to protect.”
Allred said she welcomed the governor’s comments and would likely propose possible legislation. She said she is concerned the ruling will lead to fewer cases being filed, especially against high-profile defendants.
“Then there will not only be no access to justice for the ‘Me Too’ witnesses, previous witnesses to bad actions, but moreover for the actual victim of the crime… where it could have been prosecuted, it would be prosecuted differently are,” she said.
Haley said she spoke to other alleged victims of Weinstein about the ruling, but the subject of testifying again did not come up.
“What would make me want to do it again would be that, as I’ve said in the past, this isn’t just about me,” she said. “It is a very important matter. It’s in the public eye. It is very difficult for me personally, but it is important for the collective.”
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Associated Press writer Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this story from Albany, NY