Harvey Weinstein’s Sentencing for Sex Crime Pushed Back in New York Court

NEED TO KNOW

• Harvey Weinstein had his sentencing pushed back to the end of September after being convicted of a criminal sex act by a New York jury in his criminal retrial

• Weinstein, who appeared in court expecting to be sentenced on Wednesday, Aug. 13, had previously been sentenced to 23 years in prison after his first New York trial in 2020

• Prosecutors want to try him for a third time on a rape charge after a mistrial was declared by the judge on that charge

A judge in New York has pushed back the sentencing of Harvey Weinstein to the end of September.

The disgraced mogul, 73, is facing a maximum of 25 years in prison after a jury convicted him on a single count of criminal sex act following his retrial on criminal charges. He had arrived at court on Wednesday, Aug. 13, expecting to be sentenced.

Instead, the judge held a pre-sentencing hearing during which Weinstein was given the offer of taking a plea on the rape charge — which had resulted in a mistrial at his most recent trial.

If he entered a plea, and agreed to waive his right to appeal, Weinstein would avoid having to stand trial for a third time on that charge.

Prosecutors said in court that they would be ready to commence with that trial, if needed, in January.

Judge Curtis Farber responded to that by saying in court that if there was to be another trial it would need to take place this year, and a date would be set at the September hearing should that be the case.

After a seven-week trial that began in April, jurors for the second time found Weinstein guilty of criminal sexual act against Miriam “Mimi” Haley, 48, a former production assistant on Project Runway.

She testified that Weinstein — who served as an executive producer on Project Runway at the time — invited her to his multimillion-dollar Soho apartment in New York City to “say hi” in 2006, and then proceeded to pin her down in a bedroom and perform a sex act on her without her consent.

Jurors then acquitted Weinstein of the same charge for an incident involving Kaja Sokola, a 39-year-old model who alleged that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him after the two met for lunch in 2006.

Sokola, who did not testify in Weinstein’s first New York trial, said outside the courthouse that she was happy the mogul had been convicted on at least one charge when jurors returned their verdict on two of the three charges back in June.

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Then, in a bizarre twist, a mistrial was declared on a rape count Weinstein was facing involving actress Jessica Mann, who was also testifying for the second time.

Mann, 40, alleged that Weinstein invited her to what he claimed was a breakfast meeting in 2013 and then took her to a hotel room where he proceeded to rape her.

Jurors returned with a guilty verdict on that charge in the first criminal trial, but after the jury foreman claimed deliberations had devolved into threats of violence, the judge dismissed the seven women and five men who, by that point, had spent six days trying to reach a unanimous decision.

Weinstein had previously been convicted of both criminal sex act and rape at his 2020 trial and sentenced to 23 years in prison.

A verdict from that trial was overturned in 2024 by The New York Court of Appeals in a 4-to-3 decision.

The majority in that case sided with Weinstein’s defense team, who argued that their client did not receive a fair trial as a result of the judge’s decision to allow prosecutors to call several women to testify about allegedly being assaulted by Weinstein in incidents that were not criminally charged by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

That decision was viewed by some — including the three dissenting judges — as a giant setback for the #MeToo movement, victims of sexual assault and marginalized groups.

Judge Madeline Signas wrote at the time: “Men who serially sexually exploit their power over women — especially the most vulnerable groups in society — will reap the benefit of today’s decision.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg responded to the news by announcing his office would once again be filing charges against Weinstein, and his second trial got underway in less than a year.

And while that ruling meant Weinstein no longer had to serve out his sentence in New York, he was not able to walk free.

Weinstein was instead transferred from New York to California upon his release, where he started serving out his 16-year prison sentence following a 2022 criminal trial that ended with a jury returning guilty verdicts on one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault.

He was back in New York just a few months later, though, after a governor’s warrant ordered that he be returned from California and remain in the state until the completion of his trial.

That warrant was issued by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The warrant filed by Gov. Hochul means that Weinstein will remain in custody until all criminal charges against him have been resolved, including the lingering rape charge for which he might face a third trial.

This all comes at a time when Weinstein has been dealing with a growing number of health crises, including heart issues, a cancer diagnosis and diabetes. He is currently being housed in the Rikers’ facility reserved for individuals with contagious diseases and medical conditions requiring constant care.

He arrived at court on Wednesday in a wheelchair.

“Harvey’s health is in steep decline, and this long, punishing ordeal has only worsened the toll. For years, he has been tried in the court of public opinion—by those nursing old grudges and by others seeking personal gain in keeping his name alive in headlines,” Weinstein’s rep Juda Englemeyer tells PEOPLE. “It’s time for the barrage to end, and for the focus to return to fairness, truth, and the basic dignity every person deserves.”

In the wake of the allegations against him, which were first detailed in The New York Times followed soon after by the New Yorker, Weinstein saw himself banished from Hollywood and became one of just two Oscar winners to ever be expelled from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

His second wife, former Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman, divorced him soon after and has since entered into a relationship with actor Adrien Brody.

Well over 100 women came forward and said they were victims of Weinstein’s predatory ways — among them Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Cate Blanchett and Lupita Nyong’o — with some accusing him of sexual misconduct and others sexual assault.

Read the original article on People