By Jack Queen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty to committing a criminal sexual act on Wednesday, nearly five months after the disgraced Hollywood movie mogul’s sex crimes conviction in New York was overturned.
Weinstein, 72, who is recovering from emergency heart surgery he underwent last week, entered his plea to the first-degree felony charge at a hearing before Justice Curtis Farber in a New York state court in Manhattan.
“Not guilty,” Weinstein said emphatically when asked for his plea.
Weinstein appeared in court in a wheelchair, wearing a dark suit and a blue tie, and with a large bandage on his right hand.
Jurors had found Weinstein guilty of rape and sexual assault in February 2020, less than 2-1/2 years after sexual misconduct accusations made the Weinstein case the impetus for the #MeToo movement.
But the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, threw out Weinstein’s conviction and 23-year sentence in April, saying he did not get a fair trial because the judge allowed testimony from women who Weinstein was not charged with assaulting.
Weinstein has denied having nonconsensual sexual encounters with anyone. The trial judge, James Burke, was not reappointed to the bench after his term expired at the end of 2022.
Prosecutors said during the Wednesday hearing that they would ask Judge Curtis Farber to add the new indictment to the original case.
A retrial had been tentatively set for Nov. 12, but prosecutors said that if the cases were combined, they would likely not be ready until January.
Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala said his client wants to go trial “as soon as humanly possible.”
Aidala has said it was unfair for prosecutors to seek additional charges after Weinstein’s conviction was overturned.
Prosecutors said in July they were investigating additional alleged “violent sexual assaults” by Weinstein, after new accusers came forward.
Weinstein has remained in custody since his conviction was overturned, because he was convicted separately last year for the 2013 rape of an actress in Los Angeles and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
He was rushed to the hospital from New York City’s Rikers Island jail on Sept. 8 to undergo heart surgery. His lawyers have said he is beset with health problems.
Once among Hollywood’s most powerful people, Weinstein co-founded the Miramax studio, whose hits included “Shakespeare in Love” and “Pulp Fiction.”
Weinstein’s film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018 after the earlier allegations against him precipitated its implosion.
In the New York trial, prosecutors portrayed Weinstein as a serial predator who manipulated women with promises of career advancement in Hollywood, coaxing them into hotel rooms or private apartments and then overpowering and attacking them.
