Harvey Weinstein trial set for April 15 as he asks to have it even sooner: "I'm asking and begging you"
NEW YORK -- Harvey Weinstein's retrial will begin on April 15, a judge announced Wednesday, but that's not soon enough for the disgraced movie mogul.
Weinstein, 72, spoke out in court, asking for the court to move the trial date up.
"I'm in a serious emergency situation. I am begging the court to move your date," Weinstein said.
He said he wanted to "get out of this hellhole as quickly as possible."
Weinstein has been in city custody at Rikers Island since last year, after the New York Court of Appeals overturned his 2020 rape conviction. His attorney says he has leukemia and a number of other health issues.
"Every day I'm at Rikers, it's a mystery to me how I'm still walking," Weinstein said in court. "I'm holding on because I want justice for myself and I want this to be over with."
The judge also said the trial can include allegations from a woman who was not in the original case.
Weinstein conviction overturned, awaiting retrial
In 2020, a New York jury found Weinstein guilty of sexually assaulting an assistant in 2006 and raping an aspiring actor in 2013. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Then last spring, the state's top court ruled the judge in the initial trial should not have allowed testimony from accusers who were not directly involved in the charges.
Back in October, a judge granted the prosecution's request to combine the retrial with a new charge that has since been filed against Weinstein. The additional charge accuses him of forcing oral sex on a different woman at a Manhattan hotel in 2006.
The Manhattan district attorney's office said in court filings the woman came forward just days before the start of Weinstein's first trial but was not part of the case. Prosecutors said they decided to revisit her allegations after the original conviction was thrown out.
Weinstein also faces a 16-year sentence for a 2022 rape case in Los Angeles.