Prosecutors accuse disgraced former Hollywood mogul of sexually assaulting girl in Manhattan lodge in 2006.
Disgraced former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has pleaded not responsible to a brand new sexual assault cost, years after accusations that he abused dozens of ladies made him the general public face of the #MeToo motion in the US.
The 72-year-old Weinstein entered a not-guilty plea earlier than Justice Curtis Farber in a New York state court docket in Manhattan on Wednesday.
“Due to this survivor who bravely got here ahead, Harvey Weinstein now stands indicted for a further alleged violent sexual assault,” Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg mentioned in an announcement.
Prosecutors have accused Weinstein of sexually assaulting a girl in a Manhattan lodge between April 29 and Might 6, 2006. No particulars concerning the accuser have been launched.
Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala has mentioned that Weinstein has “completely no clue” concerning the accuser’s id or allegations.
“Now we have lots of work to do. Now we have to seek out out who that particular person is. Now we have to do an investigation,” he mentioned outdoors court docket, including that Weinstein “by no means pressured himself on anybody”.
The accuser’s lawyer, Lindsay Goldbrum, mentioned in an announcement that “she might be totally ready to talk her fact at trial to carry Mr Weinstein accountable earlier than a jury of his friends”.
Weinstein, who has denied any wrongdoing, was discovered responsible of rape and sexual assault expenses in February 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in jail.
However that was overturned in April by New York state’s highest court docket, which mentioned the previous Hollywood producer didn’t get a good trial as a result of the decide allowed testimony from ladies who Weinstein was not charged with assaulting.
Ladies’s rights activists expressed outrage at that call.
“At present’s ruling sadly casts a darkish shadow on their bravery and can undoubtedly deter future sexual assault victims from coming ahead,” Lindsay Goldbrum, a lawyer for Weinstein accusers, mentioned on the time.
The previous Hollywood producer, who’s recovering from emergency heart surgery, appeared in court docket on Wednesday in a wheelchair sporting a darkish go well with.
Along with the brand new cost, he additionally faces two different legal counts in a separate indictment, together with a first-degree legal sexual act cost and a third-degree rape cost.
He additionally pleaded not responsible to these accusations.
