Attorneys for Harvey Weinstein on Wednesday filed an emergency petition asking the court to permit him to be housed at Bellevue Hospital during the length of his criminal trial in Manhattan, now in its second day of jury selection.
The jailed Hollywood producer, who’s being tried again on rape and sexual assault charges after New York’s Court of Appeals last year overturned his 2020 conviction, has fallen ill from several infections while battling cancer and other severe conditions, his lawyers say.
Weinstein’s legal team says his medical condition has degraded exponentially due to the exceedingly inadequate treatment he’s receiving on Rikers Island.
“Medication is given incorrectly, or not at all, he is experiencing unhealthy and atypical weight gain, and he is forced to endure freezing temperatures while not even being provided clean clothing,” Weinstein’s lawyer, Imran Ansari, said in a statement.
“Because of this mistreatment, he has been worn down considerably health wise, and now faces the stress of trial in this condition, which may very well lead to serious health complications, even death.”
In an email to lawyers for the city on Friday, Ansari said a tongue infection Weinstein had was worsening, that he was experiencing significant water retention, leading to a rapid weight gain of nearly 20 pounds in a month, and that he was repeatedly vomiting during a recent court date.
His lawyers filed a claim against the city late last year demanding $5 million, which alleges he’s received inadequate medical treatment on Rikers.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the city Department of Correction said, “The safety and health of every person in our jails will always be our top priority.”
Allegations of inhumane treatment of detainees have beset the notorious jail complex. In November, Manhattan Federal Court Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain, overseeing a class action that led to the creation of a federal monitor in 2015, found the city in contempt of numerous court orders and said she was inclined to appoint a receiver to run the facilities.
The disgraced studio boss, whose downfall in 2017 came after scores of women accused him of sexual misconduct, supercharging the #MeToo movement, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape stemming from allegations by three women, including former aspiring actress Jessica Mann and former TV production assistant Miriam Haley, who testified at his first trial.
The identity of a third woman, who was not included at the first trial, is not public. She’s expected to testify about Weinstein forcibly performing oral sex on her in 2006.
Weinstein’s landmark 2020 conviction and 23-year prison sentence was thrown out last year when New York’s highest court found the trial court judge wrongly allowed a jury to hear testimony concerning incidents for which the producer was not charged.
No jurors had been selected to hear the case by late Monday, with several raising their hands to express there was no way they could judge the case fairly based on their knowledge of Weinstein. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber continued screening prospective panelists on Wednesday.
Regardless of the outcome of his retrial, Weinstein is not expected to walk free. He was convicted a second time in Los Angeles on separate charges in 2022 and subsequently sentenced to an additional 16 years in prison.
