Disgraced former movie producer Harvey Weinstein has been hospitalized for extensive tests upon his return to a New York prison after his rape conviction was overturned and a new trial ordered, according to multiple media reports Saturday.
The 72-year-old Miramax co-founder was taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan after his transfer from the Mohawk Correctional Facility in upstate New York on Friday.
“They examined him and sent him to Bellevue. It seems like he needs a lot of help, physically. He’s got a lot of problems. He’s getting all kinds of tests. He’s somewhat of a train wreck health wise,” Weinstein attorney Arthur Aidala said, according to The Associated Press.
Weinstein has his conviction overturned in the New York case by that state’s Court of Appeals in a decision released Thursday.
“We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes,” the court wrote in its 4-3 decision. “The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial.”
“… It is an abuse of judicial discretion to permit untested allegations of nothing more than bad behavior that destroys a defendant’s character but sheds no light on their credibility as related to the criminal charges lodged against them,” the court said.
Weinstein was not released, since he was convicted in Los Angeles court in December 2022 and sentenced to 16 years in prison last year for raping another woman in a Beverly Hills hotel room in 2013.
He could conceivably be transferred to Los Angeles to serve the rest of his time if he is found not guilty in a second trial in New York, but Weinstein’s lawyers are now appealing his Los Angeles conviction.
“A jury was told in California that he was convicted in another state for rape … turns out he shouldn’t have been convicted and it wasn’t a fair conviction,” attorney Jennifer Bonjean said. “It interfered with his presumption of innocence in a significant way in California.”
Meanwhile, a civil suit filed against Weinstein in the same Beverly Hills attack is on temporary hold.
The plaintiff is identified as Jane Doe No. 1 in the Santa Monica Superior Court lawsuit filed in February 2023, alleging sexual battery, false imprisonment, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Judge Elaine Mandel said during a hearing Thursday that discovery will be stayed pending another proceeding on June 27.
“A stay would … promote judicial efficiency by avoiding duplicative efforts for the parties and the court,” Mandel wrote. “Furthermore, a stay would be in the public interest, noting that public interest favors a stay to prevent the subversion of a criminal proceeding.”
Weinstein had been serving a 23-year sentence in a New York prison after he was convicted in that state of forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 and rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actress in 2013.
In the Beverly Hills case, Weinstein was convicted in December 2022 of three of the seven criminal counts he was facing, forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by a foreign object. The alleged crimes occurred on or about Feb. 18, 2013, in a Beverly Hills hotel room.
The victim said she attended a film festival and alleges that Weinstein came to her hotel room unexpectedly after she attended events that day and committed the crimes.
She did not report the attack until 2017, when she had a talk with her daughter, during a time when Weinstein was at the forefront of the #metoo movement. He would eventually be accused of sexual abuse by more than 80 women.
Attorney David Ring, who represented the victim in the Los Angeles criminal case, provided a statement to City News Service on Thursday, saying she was “obviously disappointed that the criminal convictions against Weinstein were overturned in the New York case. She feels badly for those victims who endured that trial and the subsequent appeals, only to see the convictions reversed.
“However, both she and I are confident that Weinstein’s Los Angeles conviction for rape will be upheld. As the only victim who has now obtained a criminal conviction against Weinstein, she will continue to stand tall and do whatever necessary to obtain justice not only for herself but for all victims.”