Weinstein’s Extradition Delayed
HARVEY WEINSTEIN will not be coming to Los Angeles anytime soon.
The incarcerated producer is awaiting extradition to face five charges of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said March 11 it was beginning the extradition process. But as of May 18, it had yet to file its extradition request with authorities in New York. “It’s fair to say that the virus has delayed the processing of the extradition paperwork,” said Los Angeles D.A. spokesman Greg Risling.
Weinstein is being housed at Wende Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison near Buffalo, where he has begun to serve his 23-year sentence for committing a criminal sexual act and third-degree rape.
His attorneys have filed a notice of appeal, but have yet to file their full memorandum laying out all the grounds for the appeal, said Weinstein’s spokesman, Juda Engelmayer.
Weinstein was sentenced on March 11 — just before the coronavirus caused a massive shutdown of many court functions in New York and Los Angeles. On March 13, L.A. authorities filed a detainer — a formal notice instructing New York prison officials not to release him.
The L.A. prosecutors filed an amended complaint against Weinstein on April 10, charging him with an additional count of sexual battery by restraint in connection with an incident at a Beverly Hills hotel in May 2010. He also faces four charges related to two incidents at hotels in February 2013. If convicted on all counts, he faces up to an additional 29 years in prison.
About 400 of L.A. County’s 580 courtrooms have been closed for the past two months, with courts handling only essential and time-sensitive functions. The county has announced it will reopen closed courtrooms on June 10 and that hearings will resume on June 22, with masks and social distancing measures required.