NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 11: Movie producer Harvey Weinstein departs from criminal court after a bail hearing on December 11, 2019 in New York City. Weinstein was in court for a ruling on whether he will remain free on bail or if his bail will be raised to $5 million before his trial starts January 6.
A New York judge approved Harvey Weinstein‘s extradition to California, where he will face additional sexual assault charges.
Judge Kenneth Case said there was no longer a reason to delay Weinstein’s transfer. The judge also denied Weinstein’s lawyer’s request to keep him at a state prison in New York until the beginning of jury selection for his impending trial in Los Angeles. Last year after a trial in New York, Weinstein faced two rape convictions and is facing a 23-year sentence as a result.
Weinstein is appealing the guilty verdict in which he was accused of raping an aspiring actress in a hotel room in Manhattan in 2013.
Weinstein was first charged in January 2020 by Los Angeles prosecutors, just as jury selection was taking place in the New York City case that resulted in him being convicted.
Weinstein is facing 11 sexual assault accusations in California, from five women who claim he assaulted in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills from 2004 to 2013. The charges include rape, forced oral sex, sexual battery by restraint and forced sexual penetration.
Prosecutors said that Los Angeles authorities are planning to bring Weinstein from the Wende correctional facility in Alden, New York by July so that Weinstein’s attorney, Norman Effman has time to appeal the extradition.
Effman has attempted to block the extradition by arguing that Weinstein should stay in Wende’s facility because it offers medical attention and has maximum security. Weinstein needs medical attention because he has arthritis, diabetes, extensive coronary artery disease, anemia, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, chronic lower back pain, sciatica and chronic leg pain. His conditions have worsened since he’s been in prison.
“What we were trying to do is not avoid the trial, but avoid an unnecessary stay in a jail rather than a prison,” said Effman.
Erie County assistant district attorney Colleen Curtin Gable argued in favor of Weinstein’s extradition. “It’s Los Angeles. It’s not some remote outpost that doesn’t have any sort of medical care,” she said.
Effman said that the paperwork the Los Angeles authorities filed for Weinstein’s extradition was defective because it did not list all charges.
“We are challenging the paperwork because it’s not right. It’s wrong … they just copied the form and changed the date,” Effman told the judge.
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