(New York) Prosecutors are asking a Manhattan judge to consolidate the two sex crimes cases Harvey Weinstein faces in New York into one trial this year — a move opposed by the movie mogul’s lawyers in disgrace.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office argued in court documents released Friday that the cases overlap significantly because they involve similar criminal statutes, witnesses, expert testimony and documentary evidence.
They say separate trials would be “extraordinarily inefficient and burdensome” and waste judicial resources.
“There is a strong public interest in consolidating these indictments for trial because separate trials would require redundant, lengthy, and costly proceedings that would unnecessarily consume judicial and party resources,” the office wrote in its filings.
Weinstein is awaiting a retrial on two sexual charges stemming from his landmark #metoo case after the state’s highest court overturned his 2020 conviction earlier this year.
He also pleaded not guilty last month to a new sex crime charge in which prosecutors say he forced a woman to have oral sex in a Manhattan hotel in the spring of 2006.
PHOTO JEENAH MOON, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Weinstein is awaiting a retrial on two sexual charges stemming from his landmark #metoo case after the state’s highest court overturned his 2020 conviction earlier this year.
Weinstein’s lawyers, in court papers filed earlier this month, argued that the cases should remain separate.
They say prosecutors are trying to “broaden the scope” of the court-ordered retrial and turn it into “an entirely new proceeding” by including the new charges.
“Having deprived the defendant of a fair trial once, the People shamelessly – indeed, confessedly – seek to do so again by smuggling an additional charge into the case for the improper purpose of bolstering the credibility of the plaintiff in the 2024 indictment,” Weinstein’s lawyers wrote.
A judge is expected to consider the arguments at a hearing later this month.
Weinstein, who has been in custody since his conviction, was also convicted of rape in Los Angeles in 2022, although his lawyers have appealed.
The 72-year-old co-founded film and television production companies “Miramax and The Weinstein Company” and produced films such as Shakespeare and Juliet And The cry of tears.
Manhattan prosecutors, in their filings, outlined some of their plans for the retrial, which was scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
They announced they intended to call 12 to 15 witnesses to testify on issues relevant to both the new and old charges, including victims and corroborating witnesses.
Prosecutors said they would also bring in experts with knowledge of Weinstein’s “status and influence in the entertainment industry” to “establish the power imbalance” between the once-powerful producer and the victims, many of whom worked in industry.
They are also awaiting testimony from a photographer who can corroborate the victims’ testimony about the “distinctive features” of Mr. Weinstein’s body, something that was also the focus of attention during his previous trial.
Weinstein’s lawyers, meanwhile, complained that prosecutors had long known about the allegations in the latest criminal indictment but had “kept this matter in their back pocket for years.”
They said Mr. Bragg’s office had been in contact with the latest accuser since Weinstein’s initial trial and that she had changed her stories about her interactions with Weinstein over the years.
Lindsay Goldbrum, an attorney representing the woman, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday.
She previously said the woman never made her accusation public and did not wish to be identified at this time.