Harvey Weinstein will be sent to a California prison after his Manhattan retrial on rape and sexual assault charges after Golden State officials pushed for his extradition, prosecutors confirmed Monday.
The disgraced former movie mogul will stay at New York City’s Rikers Island until his Manhattan case— slated for a November trial — is resolved.
Prosecutors announced the new timeline for Weinstein’s time behind bars after the ex-Miramax honcho appeared for a brief hearing in Queens Criminal Court, with one hand cuffed to a wheelchair and the other grasping a magazine and a book.
“Today, defendant Harvey Weinstein was formally arraigned on a governor’s warrant issued by Governor Kathy Hochul, who exercised her authority for him to remain in New York State until his case in New York County is adjudicated,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement.
The extradition issue is being hashed out in Queens court rather than in Manhattan because of Queens’ proximity to Rikers, where Weinstein, 72, is being housed in a special wing for inmates with health issues.
Weinstein had been serving a 23-year-sentence in New York when Los Angeles jurors, in a separate case, convicted him in 2022 of raping an Italian model at a film festival in 2013.
But the Empire State’s highest court threw out the New York conviction in April, finding in a stunning split ruling that the trial judge erred by allowing testimony from three women whose allegations weren’t directly tied to the case.
A new trial, which Manhattan prosecutors say could include fresh sexual assault charges, has been tentatively scheduled for Nov. 12.
After that case ends, Weinstein will be returned to California because his “primary” sentence is now the one in the Golden State case, Katz said.
Weinstein has maintained that he did not rape or sexually assault anyone, and has claimed that the alarming misconduct described in detail by victims at his trials were all part of “consensual” encounters.
His legal team is appealing the California case, and has claimed that the overturning of his New York case will bolster his bid to throw out that guilty verdict as well.
“We fully expected that Mr. Weinstein would be extradited to serve his term in California, while awaiting the outcome of his California appeal,” Juda Engelmayer, Weinstein’s publicist, said in a statement.
“We are relieved that the Governor has signed the order allowing him to remain in New York while awaiting and planning for his New York retrial or new trial, should the DA choose that route,” Engelmayer added. “He needs to be near his legal team to properly adjudicate the New York matter, where we know he will prevail.”
With Post wires
