Politics
Weinstein to Face Single Trial for 3 Separate Sex Crime Charges
A new accusation against Harvey Weinstein will be joined with previous charges that are being retried, a judge ruled on Wednesday. A jury will likely hear the New York case next spring.
Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood mogul who was charged with a new sex crime in Manhattan last month, will face a single trial, likely next spring.
Mr. Weinstein, 72, was already going to be retried by the Manhattan district attorney’s office in an earlier case that had been overturned and now a jury will simultaneously consider a fresh accusation that he sexually assaulted a woman in a hotel in 2006.
Prosecutors asked the judge in the two cases, Curtis Farber, to consolidate them. Doing so, they argued, would avoid “lengthy, burdensome, duplicative trials” that would in turn “further clog the court system, and burden multiple juries.” Justice Farber granted that request during a hearing on Wednesday.
Mr. Weinstein, who held two paperback books as he was wheeled into the courtroom for the hearing, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. As his lawyers and prosecutors discussed next steps before trial, Mr. Weinstein at one point closed his eyes briefly and shook his head, which was resting in his right hand.
The next hearing in the case, during which the judge intends to rule on all pretrial motions, is scheduled for Jan. 29.
Lindsay M. Goldbrum, a lawyer who said she represented the victim in the new indictment, said her team was pleased with the judge’s ruling.
