Harvey Weinstein says he’s ‘hopeful’ after NY high court grants right to appeal
New York’s highest court has agreed to hear Harvey Weinstein’s appeal of his 2020 rape and sexual assault conviction — leaving the disgraced movie mogul “hopeful” he can prove his innocence, The Post has learned.
The Court of Appeals on Friday granted Weinsten’s application with Chief Judge Janet DiFiore, finding that “questions of law are involved which ought to be reviewed.”
The 70-year-old fallen film producer said he looks forward to his case being heard by the high court.
“I’m hopeful that this is the opportunity to finally prove my innocence,” he said in a statement to The Post on Wednesday.
Weinstein’s defense attorney, Arthur Aidala, told Page Six, “Harvey lives to fight another day.”
In June, a lower appeals court dismissed Weinstein’s bid to overturn his conviction, shooting down his arguments that he was a victim of misguided rulings by the trial judge – including one that allowed jurors to hear about allegations of misconduct for which he wasn’t charged.
“This isn’t about whether [Weinstein] is innocent or guilty, but if he got a fair trial or not a fair trial. It’s about whether the trial judge followed the law,” Aidala told Page Six.
The attorney said some pivotal issues to be raised on appeal include the testimony related to the uncharged prior bad acts, and a panelist withholding during jury selection that she wrote a book about three young women and their predatory relationships with older men.
Weinstein’s attorneys and those with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, will each file their motions with the high court in early 2023, with oral arguments likely to take place in the spring.
“We would hope we would get a decision in late spring early summer of 2023,” Aidala told Page Six.
If the case goes to retrial, its possible Weinstein — who is currently locked up in California — would be able to be released from prison on bail, the attorney noted.
Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison after a Manhattan jury found him guilty of forcibly performing oral sex on former “Project Runway” production assistant Miriam “Mimi” Haleyi in 2006 and raping hairstylist Jessica Mann in 2013.
He was acquitted of two counts of predatory sexual assault stemming from allegations that he raped actress Annabella Sciorra in the mid-1990s.
“I am innocent of these charges and I am so grateful to my attorneys for working hard and smart on making this appeal happen,” Weinstein said in a statement. “Their hard work will help me prove my innocence in the end.”
The former Hollywood heavyweight is jailed at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles awaiting trial on separate charges that he sexually assaulted five women in the city between 2004 and 2013. He has pleaded not guilty in that case, and his trial there has been set for October.
“[Weinstein’s] mood was that of relief and he is very hopeful that these judges will rule that he did not get a fair trial,” Aidala noted of speaking to Weinstein from jail.
Weinstein’s spokesperson Juda Engelmayer said that while the New York and LA cases are separate, the appeal “may offer some additional facts for consideration.”
“We are hopeful and grateful for this rare opportunity,” he told The Post about Weinstein’s motion for leave to appeal being granted.
“There was plenty wrong with the trial and conviction and Harvey’s attorneys will do what is needed to prove he’s innocence of the charges,” Engelmayer added.
The DA’s Office declined to comment.