Harvey Weinstein could face sexual assault charges in New York after Britain drops charges – National
Spared from legal proceedings in Great Britain on Thursday, Harvey Weinstein He now faces the prospect of a new indictment in New York, where prosecutors retrying the disgraced movie mogul’s rape case are taking steps to potentially charge him with three additional sexual assaults.
Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service, which authorized two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein in 2022, announced Thursday that it had decided to drop the proceedings because there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.”
“We have explained our decision to all parties,” the CPS said in a statement. “We always encourage any potential victims of sexual assault to come forward and report to the police, and we will prosecute wherever our legal criteria are met.
At the same time, the Manhattan district attorney’s office in New York began presenting evidence to a grand jury on three previously uncharged allegations against Weinstein — two sexual assaults in the mid-2000s and another sexual assault in 2016.
The New York grand jury’s term expires Friday, and a vote on the indictment could take place by the end of the week, though the process could extend beyond that. Prosecutors have said they will seek to combine the new charges with those already filed against Weinstein so they can be tried together.
In April, New York Supreme Court overturns Weinstein’s rape and sexual assault convictions and ordered a new trial. The state appeals court found that the judge in the 2020 trial improperly allowed testimony from women whose allegations against Weinstein were not part of the case.
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Prosecutors shared some information about additional allegations the grand jury is considering at a court conference Tuesday.
These include alleged sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and at a residential building in Lower Manhattan between late 2005 and mid-2006, as well as an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.
Judge Curtis Farber provided the details as Weinstein’s lawyers considered having him testify before the grand jury, which they said he wanted to do. Weinstein was not present at the conference.
Defense attorney Arthur Aidala said Thursday that he decided not to call Weinstein to testify, citing a lack of sufficient information about the new allegations. He criticized prosecutors for seeking to add additional accusers to the case rather than simply reexamining Weinstein’s original indictment.
“The case was dismissed in April and they spent six months trying to find someone to prosecute him,” Aidala said.
Harvey Weinstein, 72, has denied raping or sexually assaulting anyone. He remains in custody in New York awaiting his retrial in Manhattan, which is scheduled to begin on November 12. He is expected back in court for a preliminary hearing on September 12.
Weinstein has emerged as the main villain of the #MeToo movement, which took root in 2017 when women began coming forward with accounts of his behavior. After the revelations were made public, British police said they were investigating multiple allegations of sexual assault that took place between the 1980s and 2015.
In June 2022, the Crown Prosecution Service said it had authorised London’s Metropolitan Police Service to lay two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein for an alleged incident in London in 1996. The victim was aged in her 50s at the time of the announcement.
Unlike many other countries, Britain does not have a statute of limitations for rape or sexual assault.
After Weinstein’s conviction was overturned, New York prosecutors said they intended to bring new sexual assault charges against him and were actively pursuing allegations of a Manhattan rape that fell within the statute of limitations.
At the original trial, Weinstein was convicted of forcibly performing oral sex on a television and film production assistant in 2006 and of third-degree rape for an assault on an aspiring actress in 2013. Those allegations will be considered at his retrial. Weinstein’s acquittals on charges of predatory sexual assault and first-degree rape still stand.
After the retrial, Weinstein is expected to begin serving a 16-year sentence in California for another rape conviction in Los Angeles, authorities said. Weinstein was sentenced in Los Angeles in 2022.
Weinstein, co-founder of Miramax and The Weinstein Company, was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, having produced Oscar-winning films such as “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love.”
© 2024 The Canadian Press
