Harvey Weinstein ‘is secretly charged with rape by LA Grand Jury’

According to a report, Harvey Weinstein was secretly charged with rape by a grand jury in Los Angeles.

The charges came “ a few weeks ago, ” and is very similar to a criminal complaint filed in January 2020 by former DA Jackie Lacey, Fox News reported.

It will likely facilitate the extradition of the disgraced movie mogul from New York, where he is already serving a 23-year sentence for rape and sexual assault.

Weinstein is facing 11 counts in California, including rape and sexual battery with five incidents between 2004 and 2013.

If convicted, the former Hollywood producer could face up to 140 years in prison.

Fox reported that the sealed indictment, along with the arrest warrant for Weinstein, is expected to be made public Monday afternoon after an extradition hearing in Erie, New York.

The Los Angeles district attorney’s office did not respond to questions from Fox regarding the indictment.

An attorney for two of Weinstein’s five prosecutors in the LA case declined to comment.

The LA case against Weinstein, 69, has been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, but the OM reportedly did not want to wait any longer to proceed.

Weinstein, is currently serving his sentence in the Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo, a maximum security prison. Denied all charges against him through his attorney.

These are stale, unsubstantiated, unconfirmed, unreliable allegations raised during the hysteria of the #MeToo movement and we are confident that Mr. Weinstein will be acquitted as there is no credible evidence against him. He is innocent, ‘said lawyer Mark Werksman.

At Monday’s hearing, Weinstein’s lawyers are expected to ask for a postponement of the extradition, as his allegedly poor health could put him at risk as a result of the pandemic.

If the expected request is denied, Weinstein can be extradited to Los Angeles within 30 days.

Experts said an indictment could help LA prosecutors streamline court proceedings by going directly to court.

If the extradition had taken place solely on the basis of a criminal charge, a preliminary questioning would have been necessary.

“ This trial will eliminate the need for a preliminary hearing, which is sort of a mini-trial as we saw in the OJ case: there was the trial before trial, ” criminal defense attorney Troy Slaten told Fox News, referring to the OJ 1994-5 . Simpson murder case.

Gloria Allred, who represents two of Weinstein’s five prosecutors, has said she hopes he will soon appear in court on the West Coast.

“It seems to me that Mr. Weinstein does not want to be transferred to Los Angeles to face charges, but justice is being delayed, justice is being denied,” said the prominent women’s rights attorney.

Allred represents Mimi Haleyi, one of the women whose charges Weinstein was found guilty at his trial in New York more than a year ago.

In the LA case, she defends both an unnamed woman and model and actress Lauren Young, who came forward as a witness in Weinstein’s criminal trial in New York.

Young testified that Weinstein sexually assaulted her in a Beverly Hills hotel room in February 2013.

She said she was trapped in a bathroom with the producer who allegedly touched her while masturbating.

LA prosecutors allege that Weinstein raped another woman at a Beverly Hills hotel on February 18, 2013 – just a day before the alleged attack on Young.

The three other women involved in the LA case were also alleged to have been assaulted in Beverly Hills hotels.

Regardless of the outcome of the LA case, Weinstein would have to return to New York to serve the remainder of his 23-year sentence.

Earlier this month, Weinstein appealed his conviction for rape and sex crimes, claiming that he had not received a fair trial and that the incidents were “ unquestionable consensus ” and that many of the women who testified at his trial were simply think he is. ‘disgusting’.

His attorneys filed a 166-page appeal in Manhattan on April 5, alleging that the judge had given too much testimony about Weinstein’s reputation and character.

Weinstein was convicted in February last year for one time criminal assault in the first degree and once for rape in the third degree. He was acquitted of three other charges. He was convicted on March 11.

“Simply put, the prosecution tried Weinstein’s character, not his behavior,” his lawyers said in their appeal Monday.

With a year behind us and the emotions gone, the transcript of the case confirms what we always believed: that Mr. Weinstein was not given a fair trial … We have full confidence that the Appeals Division will correct these errors and this case back to another judge, ”they said.

They say the jury ignored the facts of the case and instead focused on Weinstein’s public persona that had been created, and that the incidents themselves were “ indisputable ” consensus.