Harvey Weinstein Trial: Film Producer Pleads Not Guilty To New Charges, Awaits Trial Date

Film producer Harvey Weinstein appeared Monday in a Manhattan criminal court, where he pleaded not guilty to two new undisclosed predatory sexual assault charges. Prosecutors said that they would move forward with these new charges in the place of older ones, should the judge decide that they are too similar. Weinstein’s attorneys asserted that all the acts were consensual.

New York State Supreme Court Justice James Burke scheduled a later time for a briefing, wherein the decision to drop the old charges or not would be discussed. Initially planned for September, Weinstein’s trial is now expected to begin on Jan. 6, 2020.

Prosecutors elaborated that their case against the former movie mogul would not change with new indictments, CNN reported.

“There [are] absolutely no surprises here, there is nothing new here,” the prosecutor said. Donna Rotunno, Weinstein’s defense attorney, called the new indictment “desperate” and said that she would file for it to be dismissed.

According to Variety, Weinstein entered the Manhattan court looking visible thinner and walking with a limp. At one point, the judge chastised him for using a cellphone.

“Please refrain from doing that. It’s an order,” Burke said.

Prior to this hearing, Weinstein was already facing five sexual assault charges: two counts of predatory sexual assault, one count of a criminal sexual act in the first degree, one count of first-degree rape and one count of third-degree rape. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Weinstein’s allegations of predatory sexual assault and harassment were first brought to light in a New York Times article from October 2017. In the nearly two years since, the effects of his fall from grace would kickstart the broader #MeToo movement.