Harvey Weinstein hospitalized: what if the fallen producer got out of prison for good?

Back in New York where his conviction for rape and sexual assault was overturned for procedural defects last Thursday, Harvey Weinstein has just been admitted to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. And his lawyer, Me Arthur Aidala, does not go out of his way to describe the health of the fallen producer. “He needs help, physically. He has a lot of problems and he has to pass all kinds of tests. From a medical point of view, it’s a wreck“, he told the American media.

Having just celebrated his 72nd year behind bars, Harvey Weinstein is expected on May 1 in the office of Curtis Faber, the attorney general of Manhattan. He should announce the holding of a new trial, as ordered by the New York Court of Appeal, which reversed his sentence to 23 years in prison, in the spring of 2020, on the grounds that testimony relating to facts other than those committed against the complainants had been admitted “wrongly“.

Heading to a California prison?

Symbolically, this decision aroused the anger of many personalities who had spoken out against Harvey Weinstein, including actresses Mira Sorvino, Rosanna Arquette and Ashley Judd. “This is a huge step backwards“, estimated for his part Douglas Wigdor, the lawyer for two of the plaintiffs. Arthur Aidala judged on the contrary that it gave “faith in the fact that there is a legal system“and that his client”did not have the right to a fair trial“.

An essential character in American cinema of the 1990s and 2000s, will Harvey Weinstein find freedom in the coming days? Unless doctors decide otherwise, it’s unlikely…for now. In February 2023, the septuagenarian was in fact sentenced to 16 years in prison for rape by a Los Angeles court for events that occurred between 2004 and 2013.

Before the decision of the New York Court of Appeal, the ex-producer was expected to serve his two sentences separately, which would undoubtedly have led to him spending the rest of his days behind bars. In the coming hours, he should therefore be transferred to a California prison to serve the sentence he received there, pending a new trial in Manhattan. Unless…

Questioned at the end of last week by the American media, lawyer Mark Werksman, who defended Harvey Weinstein in Los Angeles, suggested that he could rely on the same reasons as his colleagues in New York to have the conviction overturned. of his client. During the trial, the defense called several women who had no direct link to the case to testify. Except for the fact that Californian law authorizes it when it helps support a case. This is not the case in New York State.

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“We faced the same fundamental injustice in the Los Angeles case, where the judge let the jury hear four unfounded sexual assault charges“, explained Mark Werksman. “They destroyed his right to a fair trial regarding the facts contained in the indictment. The court decision should therefore be overturned for the same reasons as in New York.”