Innocent until pervin' guilty
Harvey’s latest sex-assault plea
Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault against a third accuser Monday, as prosecutors fought in vain to place him under house arrest.
Weinstein, 66, entered Manhattan Supreme Court in cuffs just one week after he was indicted on three additional charges of predatory sexual assault — which could send him to prison for the rest of his life.
Prosecutor Joan Illuzzi argued that Weinstein should be subjected to house arrest because of the seriousness of the potential prison sentence and because he no longer has strong ties to the area, given the recent sale of his Westport, Conn., mansion.
“The charges he’s facing now are substantially more serious,” Illuzzi said. “These cases, because they do span over the last 14 and 15 years, just show the breadth of criminality here. They don’t in any way weaken the case.”
Weinstein attorney Benjamin Brafman successfully argued house arrest wasn’t “necessary or appropriate,” given that the dad of five already surrendered his passport and is wearing an ankle bracelet that limits his travel to New York and Connecticut.
“Mr. Weinstein faces a potential life sentence that does not change the landscape he has lived under since he’s been charged,” Brafman said, noting that the initial rape and criminal sex-act charges carry a five- to 25-year sentence, “which for a 66-year-old person is life.”
Weinstein is allowed to continue living at his waterfront mansion until February 2019 under terms of the sale. His medical appointments are also in Connecticut, Brafman said.
“The house in Connecticut is in close proximity to all of the doctors that are currently treating him,” said Brafman, who declined to disclose Weinstein’s health details.
The embattled producer — who has denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex — is free on $1 million bail.
Justice James Burke declined to change the conditions of Weinstein’s release and set the next court date for Sept. 20.
The fallen filmmaker signed two new orders of protection related to the case.
“Yes, sir,” he told the judge, when asked if he understood the orders of protection.
Weinstein has been accused of sexually harassing and assaulting as many as 80 women and was hit in May with rape and criminal-sexual-act charges against two women in 2013 and 2004.
The latest charges are tied to a third accuser, production assistant Mimi Haleyi, who has accused Weinstein of forcibly performing oral sex on her at his Soho home in 2006.
Haleyi’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, issued a sharp challenge to Brafman outside court.
“Are you really willing to have your client face the jury?” she asked as they held dueling press conferences. “I doubt that you will take that risk, Mr. Brafman.”