Harvey Weinstein's New York sex crimes retrial set to begin in November

Harvey Weinstein could be retried on rape charges in Manhattan this November.

During a Friday court hearing, Judge Curtis Farber set a tentative court date for Nov. 19, signaling he was also open to an earlier trial date in September depending on how pretrial discovery plays out. Weinstein's lawyers said during the hearing they want to proceed as soon as possible.

The disgraced media mogul, 72, has denied wrongdoing or having any non-consensual sexual encounters with anyone. In February 2020, Manhattan jurors found him guilty on rape charges, but New York Court of Appeals judges threw out the conviction in April.

This spring, they found that the embattled Hollywood heavyweight did not receive a fair trial because a judge improperly allowed testimony by accusers that Weinstein had not been formally charged with assaulting.

In May, the disgraced movie mogul appeared in New York Supreme Criminal Court in Manhattan on Wednesday for the first time since the state's court of appeals threw out his 2020 rape conviction.

Prosecutors revealed in a Manhattan district court last week that they intend to charge Weinstein for "additional violent sexual assaults" after more women agreed to testify.

Harvey Weinstein granted retrial in NYcourt following 2020 rape conviction overturn

The new accusers have not been publicly identified, and prosecutors are seeking to shield certain evidence from public view while they prepare to seek a new grand jury indictment. Farber said on Friday that he will appoint a special magistrate to referee discovery disputes between the parties as they sift through new, additional evidence ahead of trial.

Weinstein's conviction was a major turning point for the #MeToo movement as women raised their voices in a revolutionary movement that opened the floodgates for accusations of bad behavior committed by powerful men in entertainment, finance and politics.

A jury found that the Miramax film studio co-founder sexually assaulted former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and raped aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013. They are among more than 80 women who have accused him of sexual misconduct. Weinstein was later sentenced to 23 years in prison.

Weinstein is being held in New York City's Rikers Island jail ahead of his retrial.

Weinstein was also sentenced to 16 years following a separate rape trial in California. That conviction was not affected by the New York court's decision, and he has not begun serving the California sentence.

Miramax's hit movies included "Shakespeare in Love" and "Pulp Fiction." Weinstein's film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018.

Contributing: Jack Queen, Reuters; Jay Stahl, USA TODAY