Harvey Weinstein: Grand jury issues new indictment in sex-crimes case

Harvey Weinstein is scheduled to be arraigned – again – next week, just three weeks before his trial is set to begin.

A new and sealed grand jury indictment was issued Thursday against the fallen movie mogul and accused sexual predator.

Danny Frost, a spokesman for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, told USA TODAY that "an appearance has been scheduled for Monday for the defendant to be arraigned on an indictment."

Frost said the indictment has been sealed, thus he could not disclose the details.

Weinstein's defense team, led by Donna Rotunno and Arthur Aidala, decried what they called "an unprecedented fourth arraignment" in Weinstein's case, and reiterated their argument that the prosecution's case against Weinstein is in disarray.

"There has been no case in recent memory where a district attorney has gone back to the grand jury on two separate occasions to re-present a case before that body in the hopes of obtaining an indictment that can withstand the scrutiny of a trial jury," the lawyers said in a statement sent to USA TODAY.

"This action by the prosecutor bespeaks the desperation that has engulfed their case. We have reached the point where one must be concerned that these desperate measures indicate more of a focus on obtaining a conviction at all costs than on seeking justice."

The latest Weinstein arraignment will come on the same day a New York appeals court is expected to rule on his lawyers' motion to move his trial out of New York City.

The new indictment won't include additional charges. Instead, it will be a repeat of the earlier indictments issued against Weinstein, charging him with five sex crimes, including rape, involving two women in encounters in 2013 and 2006.

Weinstein, 67, has pleaded not guilty to these charges, denying all allegations of non-consensual sex. He is free on $1 million bail.

The new indictment, however, is expected to include the testimony of a woman who claims Weinstein raped her in New York in the winter of 1993-1994. This accuser did not testify before the earlier grand juries and thus her testimony was barred by Judge James Burke from being introduced at the trial, set to start Sept. 9.

Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon said last week that she intended to fix that problem by re-presenting the Weinstein case to the grand jury for the purpose of including this third accuser, even though her allegations are too old to prosecute under the statute of limitations.

Weinstein attorney Aidala says prosecutors view this accuser as "an insurance witness" to help them meet their burden to prove "predatory" conduct – meaning that at least two women were sexually assaulted by the defendant – under the law.

"The most serious charge is predatory sexual assault and in order to prove that prosecutors have to prove that it was done on at least two occasions," Aidala said. "If you have two complainants (at trial) and the jury believes only one, then they've failed to prove predatory assault...She's their 'insurance' witness."

The new accuser is not identified, but by the description of her accusation, she is "Sopranos" actress Annabella Sciorra, who told her story to The New Yorker in October 2017.

Weinstein's lawyers argue that the new indictment should force a delay in the start of the trial because they are entitled to 45 days to file new pretrial motions. If they win their motion for a change of venue, that, too, could affect the start of the trial.

Prosecutors disagree; they oppose a change of venue, and argue that the new indictment should not delay the start of the trial.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harvey Weinstein grand jury issues new indictment sex-crimes case