Harvey Weinstein can be extradited to California from New York to face additional rape and sexual assault charges, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
Nearly a year after Los Angeles prosecutors asked that the former movie producer be moved, a judge has dismissed Weinstein’s attempts to remain in New York state.
The former Hollywood mogul is currently serving a 23-year sentence in a prison near Buffalo after he was found guilty of rape and sexual assault last year.
Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison last year
His legal team had argued that Weinstein should remain in New York to receive appropriate medical care, saying the 69-year-old had suffered from cardiac, dental and back problems and was “almost technically blind”.
But Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case rejected the arguments, paving the way for Weinstein to be moved to California.
“If California doesn’t come to pick up Mr Weinstein within a reasonable period of time, certainly come back to see me,” Judge Case told Norman Effman, a lawyer representing Weinstein.
Weinstein’s lawyers said they would be appealing the decision and will ask a LA judge to block that extradition.
Prosecutors in LA first sought to extradite Weinstein in July 2020 but it was delayed in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault.
He is now expected to be moved to California by mid-July, where he faces charges that he attacked five women in LA between 2004 and 2013.
Weinstein was jailed in February 2020 for sexually assaulting a production assistant in 2006 and third-degree rape of an aspiring actress in 2013.
He is appealing his conviction and sentence and has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone.
The former mogul has been held since last spring at the maximum-security Wende Correctional Facility, where he attended Tuesday’s hearing by video link.