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Weinstein shipped to L.A. to face rape rap
WEINSTEIN TO FACE SEX TRIAL IN CALIF.
Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein was extradited to California Tuesday to answer charges he sexually assaulted five women in Los Angeles County during his Hollywood heyday.
He was photographed exiting a plane at Burbank airport Tuesday afternoon wearing a pandemic mask and no handcuffs, though he was surrounded by law enforcement officials, clearly still in custody.
The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision confirmed the disgraced movie mogul was transferred to the “appropriate officials” at 9:25 a.m. for extradition to California per a court order.
“I am disappointed that the [district attorney] didn’t wait for the judge to rule on our habeas petition before transporting Harvey here, but we will continue to fight to assure that Harvey gets the crucial medical care he needs,” Weinstein’s West Coast criminal lawyer Mark Werksman told the Daily News.
He said Weinstein could make his first court appearance as early as Wednesday.
A lawyer for one of Weinstein’s unidentified accusers commended the Tuesday transfer.
“The opportunity to hold Weinstein accountable for his actions in California gives voice to the survivors including my client, Jane Doe 4,” lawyer Elizabeth Fegan said in a statement.
“They deserve to be heard and to have Weinstein answer for his actions. Our hope is that a guilty verdict in California will ensure that Harvey Weinstein will spend the rest of his life behind bars — securing justice for women everywhere,” she said.
Weinstein has been serving a 23-year sentence at the Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo since he was convicted of a first-degree criminal sex act and third-degree rape in February 2020.
A Manhattan jury found him guilty of raping actress Jessica Mann in a Midtown hotel in March 2013 and sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haley in 2006.
Norman Effman, who has represented Weinstein at his Erie County court appearances, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
California prosecutors have charged the pariah producer with 11 counts of rape and sexual battery stemming from attacks on five women in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles.
The incidents allegedly occurred between 2004 and 2013, some of them in Beverly Hills hotel rooms, prosecutors say.
The 69-year-old’s legal team has doggedly attempted to delay the transfer citing Weinstein’s deteriorating health in lockup. His lawyers say he’s now partially blind and requires round-theclock medical attention.
Werksman told The News earlier this month that Weinstein might be in jeopardy of going blind if his medical care is disrupted by the transfer to California.
But lawyers for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and district attorney’s office said in paperwork obtained by The News that Weinstein would receive adequate care for his ailments.
A county lawyer said the Avastin shots Weinstein receives to treat his vision loss could continue on track with the next dose administered in August. And Weinstein also would receive “reasonable treatment for cataracts including surgery if necessary,” the lawyer, Karen Joynt, wrote.
Joynt even said her office is prepared to help Weinstein’s lawyers obtain new glasses after a New York doctor wrote in a report his “current reading glasses are broken and do not fit him.” Prosecutors could bring Weinstein to trial in three months.