Their shot
Women hope to testify against Harvey in L.A.
A still-hospitalized Harvey Weinstein remained focused on proving his innocence Tuesday as his defense team pondered plans to win the convicted sexual predator’s release on bail.
The 67-yearold Oscar-winner, in Bellevue Hospital for a second day since his #MeToo convictions by a Manhattan jury, was “in good spirits,” his defense lawyer, Arthur Aidala, told the Daily News. “He was much more energetic and in better physical shape than I expected. I was pleasantly surprised.”
Aidala said the Weinstein defense team was working on a sentencing memorandum prior to the March 11 hearing where Manhattan Supreme Court Justice James Burke will impose a jail term on the disgraced filmmaker. The attorneys were also hopeful of figuring out a way to secure the movie maker’s release on bail pending his upcoming trial in Los Angeles on similar charges.
Weinstein was “very focused on continuing to fight for his innocence, which he has continuously professed,” said Aidala. “There’s a portion of him where he’s just scratching his head and he doesn’t know what happened. But he’s cautiously optimistic.”
The producer was hospitalized with heart palpitations and high blood pressure after the Monday verdict in the long-awaited prosecution, which came after upward of 90 women emerged with tales of his crude and sometimes criminal behavior. He faces a possible maximum sentence of 29 years, with 25 years for forcibly performing oral sex on victim Miriam Haley in 2006 and up to four years for the 2013 rape of accuser Jessica Mann.
Aidala expressed hope that “some kind of bail package” can be achieved before Weinstein’s West Coast prosecution. The Hollywood heavyweight has maintained that he never engaged in any sex that was not consensual, although a halfdozen prosecution witnesses contradicted his claim under oath during the trial.
After his sentencing next month, Weinstein is due to travel to California for arraignment there, though no date was scheduled as of Tuesday.
The Los Angeles charges, filed in January, stem from two alleged sexual assaults in Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles in 2013.
They include a felony count each of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force and sexual battery by restraint.
One of the alleged California victims, Lauren Young, testified at the Manhattan trial, telling jurors Weinstein sexually assaulted her in a hotel room at the Montage Beverly Hills in February 2013.
Rosanna Arquette and 10 other accusers gathered in Los Angeles to say they’re looking forward to trial No. 2. They want to testify, several told the Daily News.
Their shared hope is that a California judge will allow even more so-called “prior bad act” witnesses – more than the three permitted at Weinstein’s Manhattan trial.