New York prosecutors accused Harvey Weinstein’s lead defense lawyer of making public statements intended to intimidate a potential witness ahead of the ex-movie mogul’s retrial and asked the judge to to act.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office sent a letter to the trial judge on Thursday criticizing comments made by attorney Arthur Aidala outside of court on June 1er May, urging the judge to remind the defense team “not to make public statements discussing or disparaging potential witnesses in the future.”
Last month, New York’s highest court overturned Mr. Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, ruling that the trial judge had unfairly allowed other women to testify about allegations that were not part of the case.
In this historic trial of the #metoo movement, Mr. Weinstein was convicted of raping an aspiring actress in 2013 and of sexually assaulting a television and film production assistant, Miriam Haley, in 2006. Harvey Weinstein , 72, denies the accusations.
Speaking to reporters on the subject after Mr. Weinstein’s first appearance since the court issued its ruling, Mr.e Aidala said he thought Mme Haley lied to the jury about her reasons for reporting, which prosecutors deny. He added that his team planned an aggressive cross-examination on the question, “if (Miriam Haley) dares to show herself here.”
The latter, who did not attend the court hearing, had said a few days earlier that she was wondering whether she should testify a second time during a new trial.
Me Aidala declined to comment last Friday.
Assistant Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg, in the letter to Judge Curtis Farber, said the defense attorney violated the state’s rules of professional conduct and “knowingly neglected his professional and ethical obligations.”
“The obvious intention of his statements was to intimidate Mme Haley and to dissuade her from cooperating in the retrial of this case,” M wrotee Blumberg.
The assistant prosecutor asked Judge Farber to remind defense attorneys of their ethical obligations regarding out-of-court statements and to order them to stop making public statements about witnesses because such comments “could materially harm the case.”
Mr. Weinstein’s next appearance is Wednesday. During the hearing on 1er May, prosecutors requested a new trial as early as September. Judge Farber said the trial would take place sometime after Labor Day.
Harvey Weinstein, who was serving a 23-year prison sentence for the Manhattan conviction, was transferred from a state prison to a city jail after last month’s ruling by the state Court of Appeals. He was also convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and remains sentenced to 16 years in prison in California.
Miriam Haley said last month at a news conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred, that she didn’t want to go through the trauma of testifying again, “but to go on and do the right thing and because it ‘is what happened, I would consider it.’
Me Allred declined to comment Friday.
The Associated Press generally does not identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as M.me Haley.