Harvey Weinstein NYC sex crime cases consolidated into one 2025 trial

MANHATTAN (CN) — Harvey Weinstein will have to face a new sex crime charge at his highly anticipated retrial after a New York judge on Wednesday consolidated two of his pending cases.

“The motion to consolidate has been granted,” New York Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber ruled from the bench, granting prosecutors’ motion to unite the cases.

The disgraced Hollywood film producer, who appeared in court Wednesday fresh off his bone marrow cancer diagnosis, was once again bound to a wheelchair and carrying two books in his lap.

Weinstein and his legal team had fought consolidation vehemently. But in a four-page written ruling outlining his decision, Farber explained that two of Weinstein’s past New York indictments were also consolidated, which evidently didn’t prejudice Weinstein since he was acquitted on some of those charges.

The two cases will now be tried as one next year to save time and resources. Weinstein’s attorneys said Wednesday that they’ll be ready for trial in March or April. Prosecutors recommended a tentative trial date of April 1, 2025.

One of the cases is a retrial for sex crimes Weinstein was convicted of in 2020, when a Manhattan jury found him guilty of committing a criminal sexual act and third-degree rape, but acquitted him on the more serious first degree rape offense and two counts of predatory sexual assault. A New York Court of Appeals overturned that conviction earlier this year, finding that the trial judge had allowed prejudicial testimony against Weinstein.

The other case is a new charge: one count of criminal sexual act in the first degree, which prosecutors brought against Weinstein last month. In that indictment, prosecutors accuse Weinstein of engaging in “oral sexual conduct” with an unnamed victim, referred to as Jane Doe, by “forcible compulsion” sometime in the spring of 2006. Weinstein pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The woman’s attorney, Lindsay Goldbrum of the New York-based Outten & Golden, said in a statement Wednesday that she was “pleased” with the court’s ruling to consolidate.

“While Ms. Doe has previously chosen not to publicly share this painful portion of her experience, she has always remained consistent in her conversations with the Manhattan DA’s office and maintains that this encounter was not consensual,” Goldbrum said.

Weinstein’s attorney Arthur Aidala told reporters outside of the courthouse on Wednesday that he was disappointed by the judge’s ruling but not entirely surprised. Aidala likened Weinstein to a “fighter” who is looking forward to clearing his name at trial, whenever that may be.

“He’s very, very smart,” Aidala said. “He’s very tenacious. He doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

In vouching for his client’s innocence, Aidala added that Weinstein is a prolific reader, who is currently rereading Barack Obama’s 2020 memoir “A Promised Land.”

“The truth is he did not force any woman to do anything,” Aidala said.

The veteran criminal defense attorney, who has represented other high-profile clients like Rudy Giuliani and Alan Dershowitz, tried to distance Weinstein’s case from another notable sex scandal — the federal sex trafficking indictment of Sean “Diddy” Combs.

“It’s nothing like that,” Aidala said.

Weinstein won’t be back in Farber’s courtroom until Jan. 29, 2025, when the parties will return for more rulings from the judge. No trial date has officially been set.

The 72-year-old Weinstein remains behind bars, serving time at Rikers Island for his 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles County Superior Court. More than 80 women have now come forward with accusations of Weinstein’s sexual misconduct, which was the centerpiece of the #MeToo movement in 2017.

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