Harvey Weinstein Pleads Not Guilty to Sex Assault Again in L.A.

Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein entered a model new not-guilty plea on Monday to a reinstated value in his California jail case, the similar day prosecutors filed a motion to introduce uncharged, so-called “prior bad-acts” supplies at his upcoming trial.

The disgraced movie mogul, who now lives in digital isolation on the Twin Towers jail in downtown Los Angeles on account of his notoriety and fragile properly being, was ushered into the courtroom in a wheelchair, handcuffed and carrying a brown jail uniform. His face was pale and stubbled, a white pandemic masks slung under his nostril. Weinstein spoke solely to waive deadlines and agree that his trial on 11 counts of intercourse assault involving 5 unnamed alleged victims could be pushed out as far as April of subsequent 12 months.

After the listening to, his safety lawyer Mark Werksman talked about Weinstein consider to wrestle the introduction of “fairly just a few” uncharged acts and alleged victims.

“We’re going to try like hell to confirm he’ll get trial, however it’s highly effective, significantly when you might have [prosecutors] principally teaching a water cannon of uncharged allegations at him,” Werksman instructed reporters. “They’re making an attempt to throw all of the issues along with the kitchen sink at him, and we’re making an attempt to limit the proof so that’s it’s truthful.” He moreover talked about that Weinstein is “clearly struggling” in jail: “He can’t stroll and he can’t see. […] It’s very troublesome for him to be incarcerated.”

The introduction of uncharged supplies — along with dramatic testimony from costume designer Dawn Dunning and model Tarale Wulff — carried out a large place at Weinstein’s New York trial, which ended collectively along with his conviction for third-degree rape and first-degree sexual assault and a sentence of 23 years in jail.

In California, Weinstein is charged with raping three girls and sexually assaulting two others all through assaults at resorts in and spherical Beverly Hills between 2004 and 2013. He first pleaded not accountable to the 11-count indictment in Los Angeles County on July twenty first, nevertheless his authorized professionals succeeded in getting one in all many counts dismissed on a statute-of-limitations technicality.

The disputed value, Rely 5, involved the alleged sexual assault of a girl at a Beverly Hills resort in Might 2010. It represents the one value for Jane Doe No. 3, one amongst 5 unnamed alleged victims throughout the California case. When the rely was first rejected on July twenty ninth, Werksman declared a victory, saying the Los Angeles County District Lawyer’s Office had failed with one-fifth of its case. The safety had argued that Rely 5 fell exterior the 10-year statute of limitations as quickly as prosecutors decided to go to a jail grand jury with a model new case amount closing spring, in its place of sticking with the distinctive April 2020 amended grievance that had been filed. (The grand jury route allowed prosecutors to bypass a public preliminary listening to throughout the delicate and high-profile case.)

When she first rejected Rely 5 in July, Superior Court docket docket Select Lisa Lench talked about prosecutors could try as soon as extra, and, on Monday, she took Weinstein’s new plea to a third amended indictment handed up August 18th. The model new indictment consists of specific language stating the grand jury understood the timing factors and agreed its indictment on Rely 5 was part of a unbroken prosecution.

Werksman instructed Rolling Stone after the listening to that the safety might file but yet another demurrer searching for to dismiss Rely 5. “The statute of limitations stays to be the issue,” he talked about. “We’re going to look rigorously to see within the occasion that they obtained it correct this time.”

The DA’s office filed its first charges throughout the underlying case on January sixth, 2020, merely as jury alternative was getting underway at Weinstein’s New York jail trial that ended up turning right into a landmark #MeToo conviction. On February twenty fourth, 2020, a Manhattan jury discovered Weinstein responsible of the 2 felony intercourse crimes: raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann at a midtown Manhattan DoubleTree resort in 2013 and forcing oral intercourse on manufacturing assistant Miriam Haley in his SoHo condominium in 2006. He was sentenced on March eleventh, 2020, merely days sooner than Covid-19 lockdowns took preserve throughout the nation. Weinstein appealed the New York conviction in April, two months sooner than he was extradited to California.

Better than 80 girls have accused the fallen Hollywood titan of sexual misconduct, saying he generally wielded his standing as an enterprise powerbroker to lure them into vulnerable positions and assault with seeming impunity. Weinstein has repeatedly denied all allegations of nonconsensual intercourse.