Harvey Weinstein will appear in a New York City court on Wednesday, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
It will be the first court appearance since New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction and ordered a new trial. The district attorney’s office has said it intends to hold a new trial.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” the office said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a woman who was sent to prison for sexual assault said Friday that she is considering whether to testify in any new trial.
Mimi Haley said she is still processing Thursday’s decision by the state Court of Appeals and is considering numerous factors, including the trauma of having to prepare for another trial and relive what happened to her again.
“It was retraumatizing and exhausting and exhausting and all that,” he said during a news conference with his attorney, Gloria Allred. “I definitely don’t want to go through that again. But to move forward and do the right thing and because that’s what happened, I would consider it.”
Weinstein was convicted in New York in February 2020 for forcing Haley, a film and television production assistant, to perform oral sex on him in 2006 and raping an aspiring actress in 2013.
The Associated Press generally does not identify people who allege sexual assault unless they consent to be named and Haley has agreed to be named.
Weinstein, 72, will remain in prison because he was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 for another rape. In that case he was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Allred said New York’s decision shows how important it was to also bring charges in California, even as critics called that prosecution superfluous.
Weinstein’s attorney, Arthur Aidala, did not immediately respond to an email seeking a response to Haley’s comments. But on Thursday he called the state Court of Appeals ruling “a tremendous victory for all criminal defendants in the state of New York.”
The court overturned Weinstein’s 23-year sentence in a 4-3 decision, saying “the trial court wrongly admitted testimony of alleged prior sexual acts without charges” and allowed questions about Weinstein’s “bad behavior” if there were testified. He called this “highly prejudicial” and “an abuse of judicial discretion.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday that her office is looking at the scale of the decision and how the state can ensure all women feel safe coming forward.
“I don’t want this to be a time to stifle the environment that was created where we were finally calling out people who were abusing women in their presence,” Hochul said. “We don’t want to have any setbacks where there is this.” “I feel like they have to be silenced now and that’s something we have to protect.”
Allred said he appreciated the governor’s comments and would likely suggest possible legislation. He said he is concerned that the ruling will result in fewer cases being filed, especially against high-profile defendants.
“So not only will there be no access to justice for the ‘Me Too’ witnesses, witnesses of previous wrongdoing, but also for the actual victim of the crime… where she could have been prosecuted, she would have been prosecuted otherwise. ,” she said.
Haley said she spoke to Weinstein’s other alleged victims about the ruling, but the topic of testifying again did not come up.
“What would make me want to do it again would be, like I’ve said in the past, this isn’t just about me,” he said. “It’s a really important case. It’s in the public eye. “It is very difficult for me personally, but it is important for the collective.”
Associated Press writer Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this story from Albany, New York.