BUFFALO, N.Y. — Convicted former movie producer Harvey Weinstein will remain in a New York prison for now after his lawyers and prosecutors agreed Friday to postpone efforts to send him to California to face sexual assault charges.
Weinstein appeared via video from prison before Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case, who, because of the worsening pandemic, agreed to postpone Weinstein's extradition hearing until April 9.
Seated at a table at the maximum-security Wende Correctional Facility east of Buffalo, Weinstein, wearing a polo shirt and face mask, spoke only briefly in response to a series of questions from the judge. He waved his hand and shook his head in objection to media requests to record the proceeding, which the judge allowed.
Weinstein, 68, is serving a 23-year prison sentence after being convicted in New York City earlier this year on charges of rape and sexual assault against two women.
He faces similar charges involving five women in California, stemming from alleged assaults in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills from 2004 to 2013.
Because Weinstein is imprisoned in New York, a judge must sign off on transferring him to the custody of Los Angeles authorities to be tried there.
Weinstein’s attorney, Norman Effman, cited Weinstein’s “own very serious health concerns” in supporting the continued delay of the extradition proceedings originally scheduled for August.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office agreed to the first delay because of the pandemic as well.
Weinstein survived a bout with the coronavirus in March at the maximum-security Wende Correctional Facility east of Buffalo, where he is incarcerated. His lawyers said he experienced symptoms of COVID-19 again in mid-November but did not test positive for the disease at that time.
___
Associated Press writer Michael Sisak contributed to this report.
Carolyn Thompson, The Associated Press