Court rejects Harvey Weinstein’s plea to dismiss sexual assault charges

A New York judge has denied Harvey Weinstein’s request to dismiss two predatory sexual assault charges, ahead of the former Hollywood producer’s trial in January.

The decision released on Wednesday by Justice James Burke of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan is a victory for prosecutors who have charged Weinstein with five sex crimes, including rape.

Lawyers for Weinstein declined to comment in an email sent by their office. A spokesman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance declined to comment.

A trial is scheduled for January 6, 2020. Weinstein could face a life sentence if convicted.

Weinstein has also denied allegations by roughly 70 women of sexual misconduct dating back decades, saying any contact was consensual.

Over eighty women of entertainment, business, media, politics and other fields have since accused an American former film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, sexual assault and sexual abuse.

On May 25, 2018, Weinstein was arrested in New York, charged with rape and other offenses, and released on bail.

He and his brother Bob Weinstein co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced several successful independent films, including Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), The Crying Game (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Heavenly Creatures (1994), Flirting with Disaster (1996), and Shakespeare in Love (1998).

Accusations against Weinstein helped spark the #MeToo movement in October 2017, following sexual abuse allegations against Weinstein, he was dismissed from his company and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.