Prosecutors are eyeing a likely November trial date for disgraced Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein as potential new victims plan to testify against him in his rape retrial.
During a hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg said the prosecution is still mulling over whether or not to pursue additional sexual assault charges against the 72-year-old convicted sex offender after more survivors came forward following the Court of Appeals' decision to overturn his New York rape conviction in April, ABC News reported.
"We believe the defendant forcibly raped and sexually abused women in Manhattan that fall within the statute of limitations," Blumberg told Judge Curtis Farber, according to the outlet. "There were women in 2020 who were not ready to proceed with the legal process. They are now ready."
"They have a defendant, and now they're out there looking for a crime," Weinstein's defense attorney Arthur Aidala responded, accusing the state of employing delay tactics. "They're out there with a hotline: 1-800-Get-Harvey."
"There's certainly no delay tactic in the people's case," Blumberg argued. "There were a number of women who came forward to indicate they were raped by the defendant."
Blumberg said the prosecution will likely be ready to go to trial come November, while Aidala said Weinstein would like to proceed sooner than later, citing his deteriorating health, including macular degeneration and diabetes.
"He's suffering tremendously," Aidala explained, according to WABC-TV and Variety. "He's basically getting no treatment for any of it. He's not a young man. He's a sick man."
Weinstein is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence for a 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles, but will stay in New York pending his retrial.
His attorneys are also fighting to have the LA conviction overturned.
Weinstein is due back in court July 19.
