Weinstein was already facing retrial on two sex crimes charges after the state Supreme Court overturned his 2020 conviction earlier this year. In September, a new charge was filed against him accusing him of another attack. He has pleaded not guilty.

On Wednesday, Judge Curtis Farber granted prosecutors’ request to consolidate both cases and agreed to move up the trial start date, which had been tentatively set for Nov. 12.

Weinstein’s lawyers asked for a March or April date. Prosecutors said they are not opposing, but are prepared to go to trial as soon as January. Farber has scheduled the next pre-trial hearing for January 29, 2025.

Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Adalah said, “We will need some time to investigate the case, hire a private investigator and do more discovery.”

Weinstein, seated in a wheelchair, held a copy of former US President Barack Obama’s memoir A Promised Land as he listened intently to the proceedings.

Weinstein was convicted of rape in the third degree in 2006 for forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant, and in 2013 of rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actor. In the new charge, prosecutors say he forced oral sex on a woman. Different woman in a Manhattan hotel in spring 2006.

After the hearing, Aidala said he was “somewhat disappointed” but not surprised by the judge’s decision to consolidate the cases. “This is right out of their playbook from last time,” he said, referring to prosecutors. “They’re going to prosecute his personality and his conduct as opposed to the facts of the case.”

Weinstein’s lawyers had argued in court papers that the cases should remain separate, accusing prosecutors of attempting to turn the retrial into “entirely new proceedings.”

But Farber sided with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who argued that pursuing a separate trial on the new charge would be “extraordinarily inefficient” and a waste of judicial resources.

In a written decision, Farber said Weinstein’s lawyers “failed to establish that his right to a fair trial free from unfair prejudice would be violated if the two cases were combined”.

Aidala said the new accused has not yet been officially identified by defense lawyers. “It’s pretty much the same thing, where for years, decades it’s been consensual, and then more recently, it’s not consensual,” he said.

An attorney for the accuser, who she asked to be identified only as “Jane Doe,” said her client says her encounter with Weinstein was not consensual.

“Although Ms. Doe has previously chosen not to publicly share this traumatic part of her experience, she has always been consistent in her conversations with the Manhattan DA’s Office,” attorney Lindsay Goldbrough said in a statement. “Ms. Doe wishes to have her privacy respected as she prepares for her testimony.”

Aidala also rejected suggestions that Weinstein’s case echoes the federal sex trafficking case against rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, which includes allegations that he coerced and abused women for years and subjected them to blackmail, threats, And silenced through violence.

“There is no allegation of force such as physical force. “There are no allegations of drugs, filming, baby oil and other things,” he said. “This is all about people who knew each other, who went on dates, who fooled around. Everything was fine for years and years and now it is not fine.”

Weinstein’s first trial included testimony from women who described Weinstein forcibly groping, physically restraining and shoving objects into them, and kicking and punching them when they tried to escape his grip.

He was acquitted at trial on charges of violent sexual assault related to allegations by actor Annabella Sciorra, who described a violent assault in his apartment in the 1990s. Prosecutors are barred from re-prosecuting those charges.

Aidala would not elaborate on reports that Weinstein is struggling with a new health problem while behind bars. “I’m not going to go into anything specific other than to say that Mr. Weinstein is a fighter and he’s here to fight this case and he’s going to fight any health issues with every bit of strength in his body, ” he said. Said.

The 72-year-old former film producer has suffered a number of health complications, including emergency heart surgery to remove fluid from his heart and lungs last month.

Weinstein’s lawyers have argued – so far unsuccessfully – that he should be held in Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital rather than the city’s notorious Rikers Island prison complex.

Accusations of sexual assault and harassment against Weinstein sparked the #MeToo movement in 2017. The co-founder of film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company was also convicted of rape in Los Angeles in 2022, although his lawyers have appealed.