Harvey Weinstein gets 1 of 11 sex assault counts dismissed by L.A. judge, but prosecutors file it again within hours
LOS ANGELES — Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein succeeded in getting one of the 11 counts in his California sex assault case dismissed by a judge Thursday, but prosecutors filed it again hours later.
The pariah producer appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom in a wheelchair and wrinkled brown jail uniform for the morning hearing on charges he raped three women and sexually battered two others in Los Angeles County between 2004 and 2013.
After a deputy removed his handcuffs for the courtroom cameras, the once-powerful movie mogul pulled off his pandemic mask and was quickly ordered to put it back on.
Weinstein then donned some shiny black-rimmed glasses and listened intently to arguments before the judge rejected Count 5 in the indictment unsealed last week involving the five Jane Does.
Weinstein’s defense lawyer, Alan Jackson, argued the count was “fatally flawed” because it relates to an alleged 2010 assault with a 10-year statute of limitations.
Because prosecutors chose to go the route of a grand jury proceeding with a new case number in 2021, rather than pressing ahead with their original criminal complaint filed in April 2020, the charge is too old to prosecute, Jackson argued.
According to prosecutors, Weinstein sexually battered the Count 5 victim using restraint inside a Beverly Hills hotel on May 11, 2010.
“This was a continuation of the same case,” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson argued, claiming even the court referred to the indictment as a “superseding indictment” at one point.
By the afternoon, Thompson had filed an amended indictment that included new language to convince the court Count 5 should stand.
“Harvey Weinstein was charged with the same charge based upon the same conduct against the same victim on the same incident date in an amended complaint filed on April 10, 2020,” the new wording for Count 5 states. “The indictment supersedes and took the place of the prior complaint, which alleged Count 5 identically.”
An arraignment on the new version of Count 5 is expected to follow.
“The district attorney cannot resurrect an expired statute of limitations by sheer force of will,” Weinstein’s other defense lawyer, Mark Werksman, told the Daily News Thursday afternoon. “At this point, they’re trying to put lipstick on a pig. The facts don’t support this charge.”
Jackson also argued two counts related to an alleged rape and forced oral copulation of a Jane Doe between 2004 and 2005 should be dismissed, but Judge Lench let them stand.
Weinstein, 69, pleaded not guilty to four counts of rape and seven other sexual assault counts during his first court appearance in the California case last week. It’s alleged he raped the victims on two separate occasions.
Already convicted of rape and sex assault in Manhattan, Weinstein was extradited from the Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo and flown west this month after a string of delays.
He was secretly indicted by the Los Angeles grand jury in March, but the indictment wasn’t unsealed until his first court appearance.
Weinstein’s next scheduled court appearance is Sept. 13. He has the right to face trial within 60 days of that date.
Jackson said Friday his client is “doing great.”
“He is intimately involved in the defense of his case,” Jackson told The News after the hearing. “He’s looking forward to days like today, where little by little, the prosecution’s case is going to start faltering.”
