Harvey Weinstein made his first court appearance in Los Angeles on Wednesday, pleading not guilty to 11 counts of rape and sexual assault.
Weinstein appeared in a wheelchair, with his hands shackled to the arm rests. He spoke only once during the brief hearing, after Judge Sergio Tapia wished him “good luck.”
“Thank you very much,” Weinstein said.
The producer was extradited from New York on Tuesday, and is being held at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles.
His attorney, Mark Werksman, asked for a medical evaluation during the hearing. He also said he would file a demurrer, challenging three of the 11 counts on statute of limitations grounds.
Prosecutors have said they are ready to proceed to trial within 120 days, though pre-trial motions appear likely to extend that timetable.
Weinstein was convicted in New York of rape and sexual assault in February 2020, and later sentenced to 23 years in prison. His attorneys are appealing that conviction, arguing that the judge made a series of faulty rulings that denied him a fair trial.
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On the Los Angeles case, Weinstein faces allegations from five women dating back more than 10 years. If convicted on all counts, he faces a theoretical maximum of 140 years in prison.
The Los Angeles trial has already been delayed repeatedly due to the COVID slowdown in the court system. The courts have now resumed holding criminal trials, though there remains a significant backlog of cases.
His attorneys had been fighting the extradition since April, arguing that prosecutors had failed to submit the proper paperwork and that Weinstein needed treatment at the Wende Correctional Facility, near Buffalo, N.Y., for eye ailments to keep from going blind. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office have assured that Weinstein can get adequate medical care while being held at the Twin Towers facility.
Assuming the New York conviction is not overturned, Weinstein would be sent back to New York to serve the balance of his sentence following the Los Angeles trial.
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