Harvey Weinstein’s Los Angeles sentencing has been delayed while his attorneys seek a new trial.
The disgraced movie mogul was found guilty of rape and other counts of sexual assault in December. It was his second conviction; he was notoriously found guilty of rape and sexual assault in February 2020.
Weinstein, 70, is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York. His lawyers are appealing that conviction.
In a second challenge to the courts, his attorneys are now also seeking a new trial in California.
Their intention to file that request is what has delayed Weinstein’s second sentencing. He is facing 18 years in prison on the charges he was convicted of.
Weinstein, who has always pleaded not guilty to every charge, was convicted on December 19 of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by a foreign object of a woman identified in court as Jane Doe #1.
The trial heard graphic descriptions of encounters between the once-powerful producer and women who were trying to make their way in the world of movies.
Prosecutors painted a picture of a predatory ogre, who for years used his professional heft to rape and abuse women with impunity.
His victims were left terrorized and afraid for their careers if they spoke out against a man who dominated Tinseltown, prosecutors said.
While he was convicted in the Los Angeles case of assaulting one woman, the jury acquitted him of sexual battery involving a second.
They did not reach a verdict on charges relating to the alleged assaults of two other women, one of whom was identified by her lawyers as Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the now-wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
A hearing on a defense motion for a new trial was scheduled for February 23.
Judge Lisa Lench said Monday that if the motion is denied, sentencing will take place that day.
In New York last June, Weinstein lost his first appeal against his verdict and sentence in the state’s intermediate appellate court. But he has further appealed to the higher New York Court of Appeals.