The disgraced movie giant has decided to waive his right to appear in front of the New York grand jury on Wednesday afternoon.
Harvey Weinstein was indicted on rape and criminal sex act charges on Wednesday by a New York grand jury. The shamed movie mogul decided to waive his right to appear in front of the jury on Wednesday afternoon.
The reason the panel had gathered in the first place was to ascertain whether the accusers presented enough evidence to bring criminal charges against Weinstein. And now that it has voted in the affirmative, Weinstein is, in the words of Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., ‘’another step closer to accountability’’.
Weinstein currently remains free after he agreed to pay $1m in bail.
It was last Friday that the disgraced film producer was charged on one count of criminal sexual act and two counts of rape. The alleged incidents involved two separate women, one in 2004 and the other in 2013.
The women who brought the 2004 charge against Weinstein is former actress Lucia Evans who accused Weinstein of forcing her to perform oral sex in his office the same year. The other charge relates to a woman whose identity hasn’t been revealed. She may also choose to remain anonymous.
“A grand jury has voted to indict Harvey Weinstein on charges of rape in the first and third degrees, and criminal sexual act in the first degree,” Cyrus Vance, Manhattan’s district attorney, said.
Before the indictment was announced later in the day, a statement was issued on behalf of Weinstein’s lawyer, who said: “After being unfairly denied access to critical information about this case that was needed to defend him before the grand jury, Mr. Weinstein’s attorneys decided there was not sufficient time to properly prepare Mr. Weinstein.”
It further added that since neither the identities of the accusers not the specific charges against him weren’t revealed to Weinstein until last Friday, he would not testify. The statement further accused Mr. Vance of bearing ‘’political pressure’’ to secure a conviction.
After Weinstein was indicted, Mr. Brafman, his lawyer, said: ‘’The announcement of Mr. Weinstein’s indictment does not come as a surprise.”
“We will soon formally move to dismiss the indictment and if this case actually proceeds to trial, we expect Mr. Weinstein to be acquitted.”
After allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced against Weinstein last year, he was fired as the CEO of Weinstein Company. His wife is also undertaking the necessary steps to divorce him.
