Harvey Weinstein granted retrial in NY court following 2020 rape conviction overturn

Harvey Weinstein is getting a retrial.

The disgraced movie mogul appeared in New York Supreme Criminal Court in Manhattan on Wednesday for the first time since the state's court of appeals threw out his 2020 rape conviction last week.

The hearing was held by Judge Curtis Farber, and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office confirmed to Reuters on Wednesday that Weinstein was granted a retrial.

As his attorney Arthur Aidala arrived Wednesday afternoon, he told reporters, "Mr. Weinstein is very fortunate to go back into this courtroom today in front of a judge with a great reputation to prove his innocence, which he has been steadfast since I met him."

When asked about the outcome he hopes for, Aidala said, "A swift date for a trial."

"Harvey is looking forward to his day in a fair court," Weinstein's spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told Reuters ahead of Wednesday's appearance.

Weinstein, 72, was serving a 23-year sentence in a prison in upstate New York. He was transferred to Bellevue Hospital in New York City on Saturday, Patrick Rocchio, a rep for The New York City Department of Correction, told USA TODAY.

Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned

On Thursday, a New York appeals court overturned Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, after the court found that the judge for the 2020 trial handed down improper rulings by allowing three women to testify about their alleged sexual assaults committed by the Hollywood titan that were not related to the criminal charges presented.

The case, which added momentum to the #MeToo movement and spurred a reckoning in the entertainment industry and media, was part of a wave of allegations against the 72-year-old movie mogul.

A weekslong 2020 trial resulted in Weinstein's rape conviction, and a judge sentenced him to 23 years in prison at the time. In Thursday's 4-3 decision, the New York court ordered a new trial for Weinstein, who will continue serving a 16-year prison sentence stemming from a 2022 California conviction for rape.

"We will do everything in our power to retry this case and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault," Emily Tuttle, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, told Reuters in an email.

The case was brought by Bragg's predecessor, Cyrus Vance.

A series of reports in 2017 detailed allegations from dozens of women of rape and sexual assault at the hands of Weinstein. The reports prompted dozens more to break their silence with allegations against similarly powerful men in Hollywood and beyond.

Regardless of whether he is retried, Weinstein is not likely to be released from jail because he was also sentenced to 16 years following his separate rape trial in California in 2022. The two sentences cannot be served concurrently.

Weinstein has repeatedly maintained his innocence and denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.

Contributing: Jay Stahl and Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY; Brendan Pierson and Jack Queen, Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harvey Weinstein granted retrial in NY for overturned rape conviction