Is Harvey Weinstein ok? Producer seen with strap support around chest as he arrives at LA
New York prison officials handed over convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein for transportation to California on Tuesday, July 20, to face additional sexual assault charges, ending the movie producer's fight to delay his extradition.
On Tuesday, July 20, disgraced producer, Weinstein, 69, was spotted stepping out from a private jet at Burbank, the airport he once visited regularly as a Hollywood A-lister. It is the first time Weinstein has stepped foot in Los Angeles in two years since he was taken into custody in New York and sparked the #MeToo movement. Weinstein, who was wearing a mask, brown sweater and pants, was not handcuffed as he emerged from the plane. What caught the paparazzi's eyes was a support strap around his chest, making people wonder if he is okay. Weinstein's attorney Mark Werksman has stated that he will most likely be taken to the Correctional Therapy Center, which is the medical wing of the LA County men's central jail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility.
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Weinstein's spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, has said that his lawyers had still been trying to negotiate an extradition waiver but the transfer was anticipated "at some point." "We will be fighting so that Harvey can receive his needed medical care and of course, so that he can be treated fairly," Engelmayer said. "Due process, the presumption of innocence and a fair trial are all still his right." Details of Weinstein's travels were not immediately known.
In June, a New York judge approved Weinstein's extradition to California, rejecting his lawyers' appeal to keep him at a state prison near Buffalo where he is serving a 23-year sentence for a rape conviction last year until the start of jury selection in the Los Angeles case. Weinstein's lawyer, Norman Effman, contended that he should continue in Wende Correctional Facility's hospital-like maximum-security setting while receiving treatment for maladies including a loss of eyesight.
In January 2020, Weinstein was charged with 11 sexual assault counts in California involving 5 women, arising from alleged assaults in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills from 2004 to 2013. The charges include rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual battery by restraint and sexual penetration by use of force. Till now, Weinstein maintains his innocence and contends that any sexual activity was consensual. The California charges against him came to light shortly before Weinstein's conviction in New York City on charges that he violated an aspiring actress in 2013 in a Manhattan hotel room and violently performed oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 at his Manhattan apartment.
An attorney for one of Weinstein's victims praised his transfer, which was repeatedly delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic and some legal arguments over paperwork and his medical needs."The opportunity to hold Weinstein accountable for his actions in California gives voice to the survivors including my client, Jane Doe 4," attorney Elizabeth Fegan said in a statement. "They deserve to be heard and to have Weinstein answer for his actions. Our hope is that a guilty verdict in California will ensure that Harvey Weinstein will spend the rest of his life behind bars - securing justice for women everywhere."