Harvey Weinstein will appear before the judge in the same court where Trump is being tried – Chicago Tribune

NEW YORK – Harvey Weinstein is expected to appear before a judge Wednesday afternoon in the same New York City courthouse where former President Donald Trump is on trial.

Weinstein is awaiting a new trial on rape charges after his 2020 conviction was overturned. Wednesday’s court hearing will address several legal issues related to the upcoming trial, which is tentatively scheduled for some time after Labor Day.

Weinstein’s original trial was held in the same courtroom where Trump is now being tried, but it is unlikely that the two men will meet. Weinstein is in custody and will be taken to and from the courtroom under surveillance. He will appear in a courtroom on a different floor than where Trump is currently being tried.

Weinstein was convicted of third-degree rape for attacking Jessica Mann, an aspiring actress, and for sexually assaulting Miriam Haley, a former film and television production assistant.

But last month, New York’s highest court overturned those convictions after determining that the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on accusations from other women who were not part of the case. Weinstein, 72, has maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.

The New York ruling reopened a painful chapter in the United States’ examination of sexual misconduct by powerful figures. The #MeToo era began in 2017 with an avalanche of accusations against Weinstein.

Last week, prosecutors asked Judge Curtis Farber to remind Weinstein’s lawyers not to argue or disparage potential witnesses in public before the retrial.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office argued that Weinstein’s lead attorney, Arthur Aidala, made statements intended to intimidate Haley earlier this month.

Speaking outside court on May 1, Aidala said Haley lied to the jury about her reason for coming forward and that her team planned aggressive questioning on the subject “if she dares to come and show her face here.”

Aidala did not respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday about Bragg’s request.

Haley has said she doesn’t want to go through the trauma of testifying again, “but to move forward and do the right thing and because that’s what happened, I would consider it.”

His attorney, Gloria Allred, declined to comment until she attends Wednesday’s hearings.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who allege sexual assault unless they consent to be identified, as both Haley and Mann have done.

Weinstein, who was serving a 23-year sentence in New York, was also convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 for another rape and is still sentenced to 16 years in prison in California.

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