Harvey Weinstein indicted again in New York

Still recovering in the hospital from emergency heart surgery, Harvey Weinstein has been indicted in New York on new sexual assault charges. In April, Weinstein’s previous New York conviction was thrown out by an appeals court, necessitating a retrial. The new indictment is expected to include the previous indictment (which includes the allegations of two women) with new charges, including up to three new allegations, according to the Associated Press. 

Weinstein’s lawyers oppose the prosecutors’ attempts to combine the new and old charges, and will likely file a motion to challenge it ahead of the November trial date. The prosecutors previously disclosed that they’d presented additional allegations dating back to the mid-2000s at a number of New York hotels, but the exact allegations included in the new charges won’t be revealed until the indictment is unsealed at Weinstein’s September 18 arraignment. Until then, Weinstein’s team doesn’t know “anything” about it, according to his lawyer, Arthur Aidala: “We don’t know what the exact accusations are, the exact locations are, what the timing is.”

Weinstein was, of course, not in attendance at Thursday’s hearing; his spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told reporters on Thursday that the former film mogul is “not doing great” (per Deadline). He was reportedly in critical condition earlier this week following surgery. According to the AP, Judge Curtis Farber granted a defense request allowing Weinstein to remain at Bellevue Hospital’s prison ward indefinitely instead of returning to the infirmary ward at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex. “If Mr. Weinstein dies because no one has taken the authority to stop what may be the death of Mr. Weinstein because of this back-and-forth transfer from one institution to another, it would be a miscarriage of justice to say the least,” his lawyer Barry Kamins argued. “It would be a travesty of justice.” Weinstein has continued to deny allegations of assault since the stories first emerged in 2017; he is also appealing his criminal conviction in Los Angeles.