New York:(AP: Harvey Weinstein is set to appear in a New York court ahead of his scheduled retrial on rape and sexual assault charges. The disgraced Hollywood mogul is attending a pretrial status hearing in Manhattan criminal court Tuesday. His retrial is tentatively scheduled for some time after Labor Day. Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala and spokespersons for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment on what will be addressed at the hearing. During the last hearing in May, prosecutors told Judge Curtis Farber they are evaluating more claims of sexual misconduct made against Weinstein and could potentially seek a new indictment against him. Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg said additional people have come forward with assault claims and prosecutors were assessing which fall under the statute of limitations. She said some potential survivors that were not ready to step forward during Weinstein’s first New York trial may now be willing to testify. Aidala said he was confident no additional accusers would be found to bolster the prosecution’s case. Weinstein, 72, has maintained that any sexual activity was consensual. He’s currently in custody at the city’s Rikers Island jail complex but has suffered from medical problems throughout his time behind bars. In April, New York’s highest court threw out Weinstein’s rape conviction after determining the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the case. The ruling reopened a painful chapter in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures. The #MeToo era began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein. Weinstein, who had been serving a 23-year sentence in New York, was also convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and is still sentenced to 16 years in prison in California. But in an appeal filed last month in California’s Second District Court of Appeal, Weinstein’s lawyers argued he did not get a fair trial in Los Angeles.
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