Weinstein was convicted in New York of rape and sexual assault in February 2020 and later sentenced to 23 years in prison. His attorneys appealed against that conviction and said that the judge made a series of faulty rulings that denied Weinstein a fair trial.
Weinstein faces allegations from five women dating from 2004 to 2013 in the Los Angeles case. He faces a theoretical maximum of 140 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
In the case, a previously sealed indictment has been announced by the Los Angeles prosecutors, though the existence of the indictment was already known due to legal wrangling in New York.
The Los Angeles trial has already been delayed repeatedly due to the Covid-19 slowdown in the court system. The courts have now resumed holding criminal trials, though there remains a significant backlog of cases.
Weinstein’s attorneys had been fighting the extradition since April, arguing that prosecutors had failed to submit the proper paperwork and that Weinstein needed treatment at the Wende Correctional Facility, near Buffalo, New York, for eye ailments to keep from going blind.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office have assured that Weinstein can get adequate medical care while being held at the Twin Towers facility.
Assuming the New York conviction is not overturned, as per a media report, Weinstein would be sent back to New York to serve the balance of his sentence following the Los Angeles trial.
Georgina Chapman and Weinstein finalized their divorce recently. The final order of divorce was signed by a judge in New York City on July 8, 2021.
(With inputs from ANI)
(Edited by Amrita Das and Praveen Pramod Tewari)
