Harvey Weinstein is back in New York court as California seeks extradition on rape charges

Harvey Weinstein was back in a New York courtroom on Thursday as authorities consider California’s extradition request so he can serve his outstanding sentence on a rape conviction in Los Angeles following a decision to overturn his New York sentence.

According to both prosecutors, the 72-year-old Mr. Weinstein, who had left a city hospital just days earlier, appeared in a wheelchair at the hearing held Thursday morning in Queens Criminal Court in connection with California’s motion, wearing a dark suit and defense attorney.

The disgraced movie mogul will remain behind bars in New York while a court decides whether he should remain in the state and await a retrial in a rape case or be sent back to California to continue serving his other sentence.

Mr. Weinstein refused to consent to an extradition request from California during the brief court hearing. His lawyer said the hearing was normal procedure and that California must first provide an arrest warrant signed by the governor.

“They are unable to extradite Mr. Weinstein because they didn’t do what they had to do,” lawyer Diana Fabi Samson said outside court, according to the Associated Press.

Ms. Samson added that her main concern at this time is ensuring that Mr. Weinstein continues to receive medical care while he is in New York custody.

“He’s hanging on as best he can,” the lawyer said.

He is scheduled to appear in court again on August 7.

Mr. Weinstein, who is already serving another prison sentence, was sentenced to 16 years in prison by a Los Angeles judge in 2023 for raping a woman at a Los Angeles film festival in 2013 and was found guilty of rape in Manhattan in 2020.

He was found guilty of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault against an Italian model and actor during the film festival leading up to this year’s Oscars.

He was scheduled to carry out that sentence after his New York prison sentence in 2020; However, late last month, the disgraced producer’s 2020 rape conviction was overturned after the New York Court of Appeals found that a judge made a number of questionable decisions during the trial.

Weinstein was convicted of raping and assaulting two women in a separate verdict from the California case in 2020 and served 23 years in a New York state prison.

Mr. Weinstein was returned to New York from the upstate prison while the Manhattan district attorney works to retry him.

“We will do everything in our power to retry this case and remain true to our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” a spokesman for Mr. Bragg’s office said The independent in End of April.

Prosecutors claimed in a hearing last week that they could be ready as early as September and that at least one of the two alleged victims was willing to testify again.