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While the New York courts decide whether convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein should return to California while he awaits a retrial for his overturned 2020 conviction, the former movie mogul will remain jailed in the Empire State, it was decided on Thursday.
The courts must decide if Weinstein, who was previously convicted on rape charges in two separate trials in New York and California, should stay in a New York jail while he awaits the retrial in the former rape case, which has been planned to begin after Labor Day; his conviction was overturned on April 25 in a shock 4-3 decision by the New York State Court of Appeals. The second option for the courts is to ship the 72-year-old back to California, where he would begin serving his 16-year prison sentence, which came after a dramatic 2022 trial in L.A.
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Weinstein’s team on Thursday denied his consent for an extradition request from California related to his second rape conviction during a brief court hearing, according to the Associated Press. Now, he will remain in New York as the extradition process plays out.
The former power player exited a New York hospital just days ago and appeared for Thursday’s hearing in Queen’s criminal court in a wheelchair while wearing a dark suit, the AP reports. The defense team’s main concern is ensuring Weinstein needed medical care while he was in custody in New York, attorney Diana Fabi Samson told reporters outside of court.
“He’s holding up the best he can,” she said, describing Thursday’s court proceedings as normal. She added that California first needs to produce a warrant signed by the governor.
“They are not in a position to extradite Mr. Weinstein because they have not done what they need to do,” Samson said, according to the AP.
Following his conviction, Weinstein had been sent to serve his sentence in an upstate New York state prison. He was then transferred to city custody following the appeals court decision. Following his recent release from Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital, he was moved to the city’s Rikers Island jail complex on Monday.
Weinstein’s next N.Y. criminal court appearance in is scheduled for May 29, followed by an Aug. 7 appearance related to the L.A. case.
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