Prosecutors are asking a Manhattan judge to consolidate the two sex crime cases facing Harvey Weinstein in New York into a single trial — a move the disgraced movie mogul’s lawyers oppose.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office argued in court filings released on Friday that the cases overlap significantly as they involve similar criminal statutes, witnesses, expert testimony and documentary evidence.
They say separate trials would be “extraordinarily inefficient and burdensome” and waste judicial resources.
“There is a strong public interest in consolidating these indictments for trial because separate trials would require duplicative, lengthy, and expensive proceedings that would needlessly consume judicial and party resources,” the office wrote in its filings.
Harvey Weinstein arriving at a film premiere (PA)
Weinstein, 72, is awaiting retrial on two sex charges stemming from his landmark #MeToo case after the state’s highest court overturned his 2020 conviction earlier this year.
He also pleaded not guilty last month to a new sex crime charge dating to spring 2006.
In court filings submitted earlier this month, Weinstein’s lawyers argued the cases should remain separate.
They said prosecutors are attempting to “expand the scope” of the court-ordered retrial and transform it into “an entirely new proceeding” by including the new charges.
“Having deprived (the) defendant of a fair trial once, the People unapologetically—indeed, unabashedly—seek to do so again by smuggling an additional charge into the case for the improper purpose of bolstering the credibility of the complainant in the 2024 indictment,” Weinstein’s lawyers wrote.
A judge is expected to consider the arguments at a hearing later this month.
Weinstein, who has been in custody since his conviction, was also convicted of rape in Los Angeles in 2022.
His lawyers have since appealed.
Weinstein, a fallen-from-grace Hollywood heavyweight producer, co-founded the film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company.
Famous titles released by his production companies include audience hits like Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love, Good Will Hunting, and Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films.
In their filings, New York prosecutors laid out some of their plans for the upcoming retrial, which had been due to open on November 12.
They said they intend to call 12 to 15 witnesses to testify on issues relevant to both the new and old charges, including the victims and corroborating witnesses.
Harvey Weinstein appears in court in New York, on Wednesday, September 18, 2024. (Seth Wenig, Poo/APl)
Prosecutors said they will also call on experts with knowledge of Weinstein’s “status and influence in the entertainment industry” to “establish the power imbalance” between the once-powerful producer and the victims, many of whom worked in the industry.
They also anticipate testimony from a photographer who can corroborate testimony from the victims about “distinctive features” of Weinstein’s body, something that was also a focus during his prior trial.
Weinstein’s lawyers complained that prosecutors had long been aware of the allegations in the latest criminal indictment yet “held this case in their back pocket for years”.
They said Mr Bragg’s office had been in contact with the latest accuser going back to Weinstein’s original trial and that she has changed her stories about her interactions with Weinstein over the years.
Lindsay Goldbrum, a lawyer who represents the woman, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday.
She has previously said the woman has never made her accusation public and does not want to be identified for now.