Harvey Weinstein will not be sent to California before retrial

Harvey Weinstein remains locked up in New York as a court decides whether he should remain in a city jail pending a retrial or be sent to California to serve his sentence on rape charges.

The fallen movie mogul, who appeared at the hearing in a wheelchair and a dark suit, did not agree to California’s extradition request during a brief court hearing on Thursday. The 72-year-old will remain behind bars at Rikers Island Jail, where he was returned from a city hospital just days ago.

California must now produce an arrest warrant signed by the governor within 90 days, said Judge Joanne Watters.

“They are unable to extradite Mr. Weinstein because they didn’t do what they had to do,” Diana Fabi Samson, Weinstein’s lawyer, said after the court appearance.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Weinstein, referred extradition questions to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Watters scheduled Weinstein’s next appearance on the extradition issue for August 7 – just weeks before New York prosecutors said they could be ready to try him again.

The 16-year sentence Weinstein received in California in 2023 for raping a woman at a Los Angeles film festival in 2013 was on hold while he served a 23-year sentence for rape in New York.

After Empire State’s conviction was overturned late last month, Manhattan prosecutors said they were working to re-indict him and at least one of the two accusers was willing to testify again.

The once-influential former film executive has denied New York allegations that accused him of raping an aspiring actor in 2013 and sexually assaulting a television and film production assistant in 2006. The 2020 ruling was seen at the time as a milestone in the #MeToo movement, an era that began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein.

In overturning the convictions, the New York Supreme Court concluded that the judge had biased Weinstein through improper sentencing, including by allowing other women to testify about allegations he was not accused of.

Representatives for Weinstein said Thursday their main concern is ensuring he receives the medical care he needs while in custody in New York.

“He is holding up as well as one would expect given the circumstances of his incarceration with health issues,” Samson said.

Weinstein served his time in a New York state prison until he was transferred to the city’s custody following the appeals court decision. He was then taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, where he was treated for pneumonia and other medical problems, according to his publicist. He was transferred back to Rikers on Monday.

Craig Rothfeld, a prison consultant who works with Weinstein’s lawyers, emphasized that the decision on where to house Weinstein was made solely by city officials without input from his legal team.

“There were a lot of rumors about him having a cozy room. There have been false narratives about what this space looks like,” he said. “He has very serious health problems. He has been in the hospital since the day he was incarcerated, so the narrative that he shouldn’t be in Bellevue really isn’t a useful narrative.”