A New York judge has set a provisional retrial date for Harvey Weinstein for November 12 after the scandal-hit movie mogul’s rape conviction was overturned in April.
New York Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber said during a hearing Friday that he was willing to hold the trial earlier than November, at the request of Weinstein’s lawyers.
Prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said they plan to file additional charges of “violent sexual assault” after other women agreed to testify against Weinstein.
The latest accusers have not yet been publicly identified.
Weinstein, 72, attended court on Friday. He is being held at New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail until his trial.
He was sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2020. But in April, an appeals court ruled that he did not receive a fair trial because the judge overseeing his case allowed women to testify about Weinstein, whom he had never been charged with.
He was also convicted of rape in a separate trial in California and sentenced to 16 years in prison in that case.
Weinstein used a wheelchair to attend the hearing in a Manhattan courtroom. He wore a dark suit, blue tie, thick-rimmed glasses and was seen holding a brown briefcase.
The hearing was delayed for more than an hour due to global software failure affecting Microsoft computers.
Weinstein has been accused by more than 100 women of sexual misconduct, assault and rape.
His accusers’ decision to come forward and his subsequent sentencing in New York fueled the #MeToo movement against sexual abuse by powerful men.
Weinstein co-founded Miramax, whose hits include Shakespeare in Love, which won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and Pulp Fiction.
His films have received more than 300 Oscar nominations and 81 awards.
