Harvey Weinstein faces new sexual assault charge in Los Angeles

  • 4/11/2020
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Los Angeles prosecutors have filed a new sexual assault charge against Harvey Weinstein, the film producer serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York for rape. The LA district attorney’s office, which filed its original case in January, announced on Friday that Weinstein was facing a new felony charge of sexual battery by restraint, stemming from an incident at a Beverly Hills hotel on 11 May 2010. Weinstein “did willfully and unlawfully touch an intimate part of [the victim], while said person was unlawfully restrained by … Weinstein and an accomplice”, a complaint alleged. The woman was held against her will “for the purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, and sexual abuse”. Prosecutors also announced they were declining to move forward with prosecution on behalf of two other women because the “victims did not want to testify”. In the New York trial in February, the women who took the stand faced grueling attacks and cross-examinations by Weinstein’s attorneys, who belittled and blamed the women for their actions. In court filings, LA prosecutors said one victim, an actor, had testified in the New York trial about criminal sexual misconduct in 2013, but that on 31 March of this year, she said she did not want to take the stand again “due to the risk that it will re-traumatize her”. Another actor, who had alleged that Weinstein sexually assaulted her during a business meeting, has also said she will not testify, prosecutors said. A jury found Weinstein guilty of third-degree rape for an attack in a New York hotel and guilty of a criminal sex act for forcing oral sex on a former production assistant. The 68-year-old was placed in isolation at the Wende correctional facility in New York last month after he tested positive for coronavirus, according to a prison official. His spokesman said on Thursday he had no Covid-19 symptoms. Weinstein’s attorney and spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the LA case. It is unclear when he might be brought to California for charges. LA prosecutors have requested temporary custody of Weinstein, the first step to extraditing him. The new charge involves a woman who was first interviewed by police in October 2019 as a potential corroborating witness. Prosecutors said she recently provided detectives with information confirming that the assault occurred within the 10-year statute of limitation. Weinstein faces a range of charges in the LA case, including forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force and sexual battery by restraint. He faces a possible 28-year prison sentence, though it is unclear how this might be affected by his current sentence in New York. “We are continuing to build and strengthen our case,” the LA county district attorney, Jackie Lacey, said in a statement. “As we gather corroborating evidence, we have reached out to other possible sexual assault victims. If we find new evidence of a previously unreported crime, as we did here, we will investigate and determine whether additional criminal charges should be filed.” Hollywood stars and advocates for sexual assault survivors celebrated Weinstein’s conviction in February following the most high-profile trial of the #MeToo movement.

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