A judge on Friday tentatively scheduled Harvey Weinstein’s planned retrial on rape and sexual assault charges to begin on Nov. 12.
Weinstein wore an American flag pin on his jacket during a brief appearance at a courthouse in Manhattan, which was delayed by about a half hour.
The former Hollywood movie mogul’s pretrial hearing in Manhattan criminal court was scheduled to address issues related to evidence in the case, including text messages.
At a hearing last week, prosecutors said they anticipated a November retrial. They told Judge Curtis Farber that they were still actively pursuing new claims against Weinstein, though they conceded that they hadn’t yet brought any findings to a grand jury.
Weinstein denies sexually assaulting anyone.
New York’s highest court threw out Weinstein’s 2020 conviction earlier this year, ruling that the original trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that weren’t part of the case.
The conviction had been considered a landmark in the #MeToo movement, an era that began in 2017 amid numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against the once powerful studio boss behind “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love.”
Weinstein had been convicted of rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actress and of forcing himself on a TV and film production assistant in 2006. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors have said one of the accusers in that case, Jessica Mann, is prepared to testify against Weinstein again. Gloria Allred, a lawyer for the second accuser, Mimi Haley, said last week that her client hadn’t yet decided whether to participate in the retrial.
The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as Haley and Mann did.
Weinstein, 72, is jailed on Rikers Island. His attorney, Arthur Aidala, has complained that Weinstein hasn’t been getting proper care in jail for diabetes, macular degeneration and fluid in his lungs and heart.
Weinstein also was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and is still sentenced to 16 years in prison in California. In an appeal filed there last month, his lawyers argued he didn’t get a fair trial in that case.
Google wins legal bid to overturn 1.5 billion euro antitrust fine in EU digital ad case
Google won a court challenge on Wednesday against a 1.49 billion euro ($1.66 billion) European Union antitrust fine imposed five years ago that targeted its online advertising business.
The EU's General Court said it was throwing out the 2019 penalty imposed by the European Commission, which is the 27-nation bloc's top antitrust enforcer.
"The General Court annuls the Commission's decision in its entirety," the court said in a press release.
The commission's ruling applied to a narrow portion of Google's ad business: ads that the U.S. tech giant sold next to Google search results on third-party websites.
Regulators had accused Google of inserting exclusivity clauses in its contracts that barred these websites from running similarly placed ads sold by Google's rivals. The commission said when it issued the penalty that Google's behavior resulted in advertisers and website owners having less choice and likely facing higher prices that would be passed on to consumers.
But the General Court said the commission "committed errors" when it assessed those clauses. The commission failed to demonstrate that Google's contracts deterred innovation, harmed consumers or helped the company hold on to and strengthen its dominant position in national online search advertising markets, it said.
The ruling can be appealed, but only on points of law, to the Court of Justice, the bloc's top court.
The commission said in a brief statement that it "will carefully study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps."
Google said it changed its contracts in 2016 to remove the provisions in question, even before the commission imposed its decision.
"We are pleased that the court has recognised errors in the original decision... Read More