Harvey Weinstein hit with third sexual assault case in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Harvey Weinstein was billed in Los Angeles on Friday with a third sexual assault case, and prosecutors there stated they have started off the procedure of trying to get his extradition from New York, wherever the previous movie producer is serving prison time for rape.

The onetime Hollywood mogul, who tested good for the coronavirus soon after staying incarcerated in upstate New York but has since recovered, was freshly billed with a single felony depend of sexual battery by restraint.

The sixty eight-yr-previous experienced currently been billed in Los Angeles with rape, sexual penetration by force and forcible oral copulation for an alleged come across with one particular girl, and with sexual battery of a second girl, each in February of 2013.

The latest case stems from an incident that happened in May possibly 2010 at a Beverly Hills lodge, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Workplace stated in a statement accompanying the amended five-depend felony criticism that contained the new cost.

Weinstein’s spokesman, Juda Engelmayer, declined to remark until eventually he was ready to attain Weinstein’s lawyers. Weinstein’s lawyers could not quickly be arrived at by Reuters.

Far more than one hundred gals have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct stretching back again many years. He has denied the allegations, stating any intercourse was consensual. 

The revised felony criticism filed on Friday claims Weinstein touched “an personal part” of the victim even though she was restrained towards her will by the movie producer and an unnamed accomplice.

None of the 3 gals cited as Weinstein’s accusers is recognized in courtroom papers.

The third accuser was interviewed by law enforcement in October as a achievable corroborating witness in other complaints, and furnished detectives last month “with information and facts confirming that the assault took put within the 10-yr statute of limitation,” prosecutors stated in their statement.

The district attorney’s business office also announced on Friday that two other conditions involving Weinstein ended up declined for prosecution “because the victims did not want to testify towards the defendant in this case.”

Prosecutors in Los Angeles have initiated a ask for for non permanent custody of Weinstein from New York condition as they get started the extradition procedure, the statement stated. He is to be arraigned on the Los Angeles prices after he comes.

If convicted as billed in the revised criticism, Weinstein faces up to 29 a long time in prison, in accordance to the statement.

He was sentenced on March eleven in Manhattan felony courtroom to 23 a long time in prison for sexually assaulting previous creation assistant Mimi Haleyi and raping Jessica Mann, a onetime aspiring actress. His conviction was hailed as a victory for the #MeToo motion towards sexual misconduct by potent males.