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By Jack Queen
(Reuters) -Harvey Weinstein could be retried on rape charges in Manhattan on Nov. 12 after a judge set a tentative trial date at a Friday court hearing.
Judge Curtis Farber said he was also open to an earlier start date in September depending on how pretrial discovery plays out. Weinstein's lawyers say they want to proceed as soon as possible.
Weinstein, 72, has denied wrongdoing and has denied having any non-consensual sexual encounters with anyone. Jurors in Manhattan found him guilty on rape charges in February 2020, but the New York Court of Appeals threw out the conviction in April, finding Weinstein did not get a fair trial because a judge improperly allowed testimony by accusers he was not formally charged with assaulting.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office revealed in court last week that they intend to charge Weinstein for “additional violent sexual assaults” after more women agreed to testify.
The new accusers have not been publicly identified, and prosecutors are seeking to shield certain evidence from public view while they prepare to seek a new grand jury indictment.
Farber said on Friday that he will appoint a special magistrate to referee discovery disputes between the parties as they sift through new evidence ahead of trial.
Weinstein’s conviction was a milestone for the #MeToo movement, in which women accused hundreds of men in entertainment, media, politics and other fields of sexual misconduct.
A jury found the Miramax film studio co-founder sexually assaulted former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and raped aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013. They are among more than 80 women who have accused him of sexual misconduct.
Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Prosecutors have said that they will be ready to retry Weinstein by the fall. If they obtain a new indictment, they could seek to combine it with the original case or try both of them separately.
Arthur Aidala, Weinstein's lawyer, said at last week's hearing that it was unfair for prosecutors to seek to add additional victims to the case after the conviction was overturned.
Weinstein is being held in New York City’s Rikers Island jail ahead of his retrial.
Weinstein was also sentenced to 16 years following a separate rape trial in California. That conviction was not affected by the New York court's decision, and he has not begun serving the California sentence.
Miramax's hit movies included "Shakespeare in Love" and "Pulp Fiction." Weinstein's film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018.
(Reporting by Jack Queen;Editing by Noeleen Walder, Nick Zieminski and Rod Nickel)
