Harvey Weinstein charged again in New York

Harvey Weinstein, still recovering in hospital from emergency heart surgery, has been charged with new sexual assault in New York. In April, Weinstein's previous conviction in New York was overturned by an appeals court, requiring a retrial. The new indictment is expected to add new charges to the previous indictment (which includes allegations from two women), including up to three new allegations, according to the Associated Press.

Weinstein's lawyers are resisting prosecutors' attempts to combine the new and old charges and will likely file a motion to challenge the charges before the November trial date. Prosecutors previously announced they had brought additional allegations dating to the mid-2000s at a series of New York hotels, but the exact allegations of the new charges will not be disclosed until the indictment is unsealed at Weinstein's arraignment on Sept. 18. Until then, Weinstein's team knows “nothing” about it, according to his statement. Lawyer Arthur Aidala: “We do not know the exact allegations, nor do we know where exactly they took place, nor when.”

Weinstein was of course not present at Thursday's hearing; his spokesman Juda Engelmayer told reporters on Thursday that the former movie mogul is “not doing well” (according to Deadline). He was reportedly in critical condition earlier this week following surgery. According to AP, Judge Curtis Farber granted a defense request that Weinstein remain indefinitely in the jail unit at Bellevue Hospital rather than return to the infirmary at New York City's Rikers Island jail complex. “If Mr. Weinstein dies because no one assumed the authority to prevent Mr. Weinstein's potential death through this back-and-forth transfer from one institution to another, it would be a miscarriage of justice, to say the least,” argued his attorney, Barry Kamins. “It would be a judicial travesty.” Weinstein has denied the assault allegations since the stories first emerged in 2017; he is also appealing his criminal conviction in Los Angeles.