ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sexual assault charge

Harvey Weinstein appears in criminal court in New York, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool) Harvey Weinstein appears in criminal court in New York, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool)
Share
NEW YORK -

Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty to a new sexual assault charge on Wednesday, nearly five months after the disgraced Hollywood movie mogul's earlier sex crimes conviction in New York was overturned.

Weinstein, 72, who is recovering from emergency heart surgery, entered his plea to committing a criminal sexual act in the first degree at a hearing before Justice Curtis Farber in a New York state court in Manhattan.

"Not guilty," Weinstein responded emphatically when asked for his plea to the felony charge.

Weinstein still faces two other criminal counts from an earlier indictment where he also pleaded not guilty, including another first-degree criminal sexual act charge and a third-degree rape charge.

He appeared in court in a wheelchair, wearing a dark suit and a blue tie, and with a large bandage on his right hand.

The new charge announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accuses Weinstein of sexually assaulting a woman in a downtown Manhattan hotel between April 29 and May 6, 2006.

"Thanks to this survivor who bravely came forward, Harvey Weinstein now stands indicted for an additional alleged violent sexual assault," Bragg said in a statement.

Weinstein's latest accuser has yet to be publicly identified.

"She will be fully prepared to speak her truth at trial to hold Mr. Weinstein accountable before a jury of his peers," her lawyer Lindsay Goldbrum said in a statement.

It was unclear whether a retrial of Weinstein would include the three charges he now faces.

Jurors had found Weinstein guilty of rape and sexual assault in February 2020, less than two and a half years after sexual misconduct accusations made his case the impetus for the #MeToo movement.

But the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, threw out Weinstein's conviction and 23-year sentence in April, saying he did not get a fair trial because the judge allowed testimony from women who Weinstein was not charged with assaulting.

Weinstein has denied having nonconsensual sexual encounters with anyone. His original trial judge, James Burke, was not reappointed to the bench after his term expired at the end of 2022.

New charge may delay retrial

The new charge was announced two months after prosecutors said they were investigating additional alleged "violent sexual assaults" by Weinstein, after new accusers came forward.

Farber at the time set a tentative Nov. 12 retrial date, but prosecutors said on Wednesday they would likely not be ready until January.

Weinstein's lawyer Arthur Aidala said his client wants to go trial "as soon as humanly possible."

He later told reporters that Weinstein was "vehemently opposed" to adding the new charge to the original case, and wants a retrial on the original charges as soon as possible.

Farber did not set a new trial date, but said he would proceed when both sides are ready.

Weinstein remains in custody, because he was convicted separately last year in California for the 2013 rape of an actress in Los Angeles and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Weinstein's lawyers have said he is beset with health problems. He was rushed to the hospital from New York City's Rikers Island jail on Sept. 8 to undergo heart surgery.

Once among Hollywood's most powerful people, Weinstein co-founded the Miramax studio, whose hits included "Shakespeare in Love" and "Pulp Fiction."

Weinstein's film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018, imploding after the original accusations of sexual misconduct.

In the New York trial, prosecutors portrayed Weinstein as a serial predator who manipulated women with promises of career advancement in Hollywood, coaxed them into hotel rooms or private apartments, and then overpowered and attacked them.

(Reporting by Jack Queen; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

A 14-year-old student who allegedly set her classmate on fire is facing a new charge.

Video of a brazen daylight auto theft which shows a suspect running over a victim in a stolen luxury SUV has been released by police west of Toronto.

DEVELOPING

DEVELOPING Exploding electronic devices kill 20, wound 450 in second day of explosions in Lebanon

Lebanon's health ministry said Wednesday that at least 20 people were killed and 450 others wounded by exploding electronic devices in multiple regions of the country. The explosions came a day after an apparent Israeli attack targeting pagers used by Hezbollah killed at least 12 and wounded nearly 3,000. Here are the latest updates.

Court documents filed in the case of a Pakistani man arrested in Quebec for an alleged plot to kill Jews in New York City reveal the RCMP didn't have enough evidence to hold him in Canada.

Local Spotlight

An ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey named Goliath is missing from its longtime home at a veterinary hospital south of Calgary.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.

If you take a look to the right of Hilda Duddridge’s 100th birthday cake, you’ll see a sculpture of a smiling girl extending her arms forward.

Two sisters have finally been reunited with a plane their father built 90 years ago, that is also considered an important part of Canadian aviation history.