Retrial of Harvey Weinstein unlikely to occur soon, if ever, experts say
NEW YORK — The new New York trial of Harvey Weinstein – whose filmmaking talents once astounded Hollywood – will not return to court anytime soon, if ever, legal experts said, on a day when one of two women considered crucial to the case said she wasn’t. I’m not sure she’ll testify again.
A ruling Thursday by the New York Court of Appeals overturned the 2020 conviction of the former movie power broker who prosecutors say forced young actors to submit to his lustful desires by testing his ability to make or break their careers set. He remains imprisoned in New York State after also being convicted in a similar case in California.
The appeals court in a 4-3 decision overturned a 23-year prison sentence and ordered a new trial for Weinstein, saying the judge erred by allowing three women to testify about allegations that were not part of the indictment and by allowing questions about Weinstein’s history. “bad behavior” when he testified. He didn’t. He was convicted of forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and a film production assistant and of third-degree rape for an attack on an aspiring actor in 2013.
Several lawyers said in interviews Friday that it would be a long shot to get a new trial for the 72-year-old ailing movie mogul and magnet for the #MeToo movement behind bars, and it was doubtful whether one could be done sooner to start. years, if at all.
“I don’t think there will be a trial in the end,” said Joshua Naftalis, a former federal prosecutor in Manhattan who is now in private practice. “I don’t think he wants to go through another trial, and I don’t think the state wants to try him again.”
Naftalis said both sides can seek a resolution, such as a plea deal, that will eliminate the need to put his accusers through the trauma of a second trial.
Deborah Tuerkheimer, a professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan, said whether there will be a second trial “depends on the preferences of the women who would have to testify again and the ordeal of a would have to go through a new process. ”
“I think ultimately it will come down to whether they feel like it’s something they want to do, can do,” she said.
Jane Manning, executive director of the nonprofit Women’s Equal Justice, which provides advocacy for sexual assault survivors, agrees that “the biggest question is whether the two women are willing to testify again.”
If so, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will “absolutely retry” the case, said Manning, who prosecuted sex crimes in the late 1990s and early 2000s when she was in the Queens district attorney’s office fed up.
Tama Kudman, a criminal defense attorney based in West Palm Beach, Florida, who also practices in New Jersey and New York, said prosecutors will likely soon hold talks with key witnesses for a new trial.
“It’s ultimately up to them whether they want to go through that again,” Kudman said, noting that prosecutors will have to see if witnesses can withstand a second trial. “Being willing and wanting are two different things.”
The legal process has already begun and Weinstein will be arraigned in Manhattan on Wednesday, an appearance that will likely be used in part to determine where he will be jailed while he awaits a new trial.
Bragg’s office released a statement shortly after the appeal ruling was made public Thursday, saying it “will do everything in our power to rehear this case.”
But attorneys say the road to trial will include months of battles between attorneys over what evidence and testimony will be allowed at a new trial.
The difficult path to a new trial became clear on Friday when Miriam Haley, one of the two women at the center of the charges against Weinstein, said during an electronic press conference that she “will consider testifying again if there is a new trial,” but declined to commit to a new trial if questioned further.
Haley, a former production assistant on “Project Runway” also known as Mimi Haleyi, testified at the Weinstein trial that she repeatedly said “no” to Weinstein when he attacked her in his apartment in July 2006 and performed oral sex on her. In a 2020 civil lawsuit, Haley said she was left with lingering horror, humiliation and pain.
During the news conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred, Haley said the appeal ruling was “a terrible decision that sends an extremely disheartening message to victims of sexual violence everywhere.”
She said testifying was “retraumatizing, exhausting and terrifying” and that she could not yet decide whether she would testify at a retrial, while “we are all in a bit of shock” by the court’s ruling.
“I wish it was as simple as ‘Sure, I’ll do it again!’” Haley said.
She said people really don’t understand.
“It’s like, insane. It’s grueling. It is difficult. You’ve been living in fear for years,” Haley said. “Then you get harassed. There are so many things that people don’t see that I had to live with. Yeah, like I have to take a moment to think about it.”
Allred told the news conference Friday afternoon that Bragg’s office had not yet contacted Haley about testifying again.
Erika Rosenbaum, a Canadian actor who made her own accusations against Weinstein in 2017, has spoken out against harassment and abuse for years but has not been called to testify in either of Weinstein’s trials.
She said in an interview Friday that it was harrowing enough to tell her own story of abuse in the media and can only imagine how much harder it is to appear on the witness stand — let alone twice.
“Every time I talk about it, whether it’s to the press or to a group of students or young people, I feel physically hot and uncomfortable. My head is pounding, I have a physical, visceral reaction. It takes a physical, mental and emotional toll,” Rosenbaum said.
She said she imagines it would be terrifying to testify and that she wishes she could “stand up for them or with them.”
“But these are some brave ladies, and I have a lot of respect and gratitude for them,” Rosenbaum added.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they have been victims of sexual assault unless they agree to be named as Haley and Rosenbaum have done.
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Associated Press writers Jocelyn Noveck and Michael R. Sisak contributed.