Harvey Weinstein faces accuser as judge orders retrial over rape, sexual assault convictions

NEW YORK: Disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein faced one of his accusers in New York court Wednesday as he was told he would be retried for rape and sexual assault convictions that were overturned in the state.

His 2020 conviction for raping ex-actress Jessica Mann, who was in the front row of the courtroom’s public gallery and mere feet from Weinstein, was overturned by New York’s highest court last week.

Weinstein was visibly frail as he was wheeled into the Manhattan courtroom, flanked by his lawyers, smiling and waving at supporters as he was pushed in a wheelchair past the public gallery.

Weinstein, who has barely been pictured in public for years, was flanked by two armed court officers as he sat at the defendant’s table wearing a dark suit, his hair thin.

“We believe in this case… To that end (accuser) Jessica Mann is in court today,” said prosecutor Nicole Blumberg announcing that her office would seek a retrial. “She is committed to seeing justice served once again.”

“We have every belief that the defendant will be convicted again at trial.”

But Weinstein’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala, insisted “he was acquitted of the most serious counts,” accusing the prosecutor in the original New York trial of perjuring herself.

Weinstein’s team had sought to have their client granted bail pending any retrial, but Judge Curtis Farber rejected that, remanding him pending a retrial, which he set for after Labour Day on September 4.

“His life is on the line,” Aidala said as he sought to have his client freed.