Los Angeles, Jul 21 (AP): New York jail officers have handed convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein over to California to face further sexual assault expenses, ending the previous film mogul’s prolonged struggle to delay his extradition.
Weinstein, 69, was booked right into a downtown Los Angeles jail Tuesday afternoon, information confirmed. He might be arraigned on 11 sexual assault counts, together with 4 counts of rape, as early as Wednesday morning, in line with his LA lawyer, Mark Werksman. The district lawyer’s workplace had no quick remark.
Weinstein’s attorneys had been making an attempt to barter to cease the switch, nevertheless it had been anticipated to occur quickly, his spokesperson Juda Engelmayer mentioned.
“We will likely be preventing in order that Harvey can obtain his wanted medical care and naturally, in order that he could be handled pretty,” Engelmayer mentioned. “Due course of, presumption of innocence and a good trial are all nonetheless his proper.” A New York decide in June accepted Weinstein’s extradition to California, denying his attorneys’ request to maintain him at a state jail close to Buffalo, the place he’s serving a 23-year sentence for a rape conviction final 12 months, till the beginning of jury choice within the Los Angeles case.
Weinstein’s lawyer, Norman Effman, argued he ought to stay within the New York facility’s hospital-like maximum-security setting whereas receiving therapy for well being issues together with lack of eyesight.
Weinstein’s time in custody in California will depend towards his New York sentence, officers mentioned.
Weinstein was charged in January 2020 with 11 sexual assault counts in California involving 5 ladies, stemming from allegations in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills from 2004 to 2013. The fees embody rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual battery by restraint and sexual penetration by use of drive.
Weinstein maintains his innocence and contends that any sexual exercise was consensual.
The California expenses have been introduced shortly earlier than Weinstein’s conviction in New York Metropolis on expenses that he raped an aspiring actress in 2013 in a Manhattan resort room and forcibly carried out oral intercourse on a TV and movie manufacturing assistant in 2006 at his Manhattan condominium.
He’s interesting that conviction.
A lawyer for one in all Weinstein’s accusers applauded Tuesday’s switch, which was repeatedly delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to authorized arguments over paperwork and his medical wants.
“The chance to carry Weinstein accountable for his actions in California provides voice to the survivors together with my consumer, Jane Doe 4,” lawyer Elizabeth Fegan mentioned in a press release. “They should be heard and to have Weinstein reply for his actions. Our hope is {that a} responsible verdict in California will be sure that Harvey Weinstein will spend the remainder of his life behind bars – securing justice for girls in every single place.” (AP) DIV DIV
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