Harvey Weinstein begs to get out of Rikers Island ‘hell hole’ in court
Alec Tabak/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Harvey Weinstein begged a Manhattan judge on Wednesday to put him on trial earlier than planned, saying he isn’t sure he will live until the spring while incarcerated in the “hell hole” that is the New York City jail complex.
“Every day I’m at Rikers Island it’s a mystery to me how I’m still walking,” Weinstein told the court while seated in a wheelchair. “I’m asking and begging you, your honor, I can’t hold on anymore. I’m holding on because I want justice for myself and I want this to be over with.”
Weinstein is scheduled to stand trial April 15. Judge Curtis Farber said he could not push it earlier because he is scheduled to preside over a murder trial that is “set in stone.”
Even so, Weinstein persisted.
“I beg you to switch your case and do so out of clemency,” Weinstein said. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold on.”
He complained that the conditions he faces in jail are complicating his medical issues, calling Rikers Island “a medieval situation.”
Weinstein — who has cancer and underwent emergency heart surgery in September — is suing New York City and its Department of Correction, alleging “medical negligence.”
“I’m begging the court to move your date so we can have that date instead and proceed with this trial as quickly as we can and get out of this hell hole,” Weinstein said Wednesday.
The disgraced film producer asked to start the trial even a bit earlier, April 7, because, he said, “every week counts.”
Farber said he would consider the request.
“If the lawyers report to me they can do it sooner then I’ll make myself available,” Farber said.
On Wednesday, Farber denied Weinstein’s bid to dismiss a new sexual assault charge from a woman who alleged Weinstein forced oral sex on her in a Manhattan hotel in 2006. Weinstein argued that prosecutors unduly delayed charging him.
“The application to dismiss denied,” Farber said. “The court has inspected the grand jury minutes and found them to be sufficient.”
Weinstein will stand trial on the new sexual assault charge at the same time he is retried on two other sexual assault charges after an earlier conviction was overturned on appeal.
(MADISON, WI) — Police are investigating the online footprint of 15-year-old Abundant Life Christian School shooting suspect Natalie Rupnow — who went by Samantha — as they piece together the course of events that left three people dead, Rupnow among them.
Meanwhile, numerous schools in the Madison Metropolitan School District “were targeted by false threats often known as swatting” Tuesday, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes told reporters at a news conference.
Police are investigating, Barnes said, and he noted authorities do not believe there are any current threats. “Making false threats is a crime, and we are working with the district attorney,” he said.
Barnes said police are still working to establish a motive for Monday’s deadly shooting, suggesting there were multiple factors.
Police are talking to students to determine if bullying was one, he said. “Everyone was targeted in this incident and everyone was put in equal danger,” Barnes added.
Barnes said police are also investigating Rupnow’s online activity. The police chief urged anyone who knew her or had insights into her feelings to call Madison Area Crime Stoppers at 608-266-6014.
One teacher and one student were killed in the Monday morning shooting, which took place inside a classroom during a study hall “full of students from multiple grade levels.”
Two other students remain in critical condition with life-threatening injuries. Three students and a teacher suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Rupnow died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound before law enforcement arrived, police said. Officers did not fire their weapons.
Rupnow’s parents are cooperating with the investigation, Barnes told ABC News on Tuesday.
“They were cooperative. Despite this tragedy, they still lost a child. They still lost a member of their family,” Barnes said.
“It is certain that they have probably more questions than anyone because they knew her,” he said. “They lived with her and so we wanted to get an account from them of what kind of child she was.”
Her father is being questioned by investigators, Barnes said. He said he didn’t know whether the mother had been questioned, noting that she’s been out of town.
A candlelight vigil was held Tuesday night at the state capitol for the victims of the shooting.
“Yesterday, the Madison community experienced a terrible and traumatic event,” Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said at the vigil. “We will never be the same, but we will get through this. And we will get through this together by relying on each other and taking care of each other.”
The victims have not been publicly identified. Rhodes-Conway told reporters during the news conference that they are respecting the privacy of the victims’ families and will “share what we can when we can and not before that.”
“Let them grieve. Let them recover. Let them heal,” she said.
Students in kindergarten through 12th grade attend the Christian school.
“I was in the hallway, and I was changing from my shoes to my boots to go to lunch because I have recess after, but then I heard the shooting and screams,” a girl in second-grade told Chicago ABC station WLS.
James Smith told ABC News his 17-year-old daughter was in physics class at the time gunshots rang out two classrooms away. She wasn’t hurt.
Smith said Abundant Life Christian School welcomes students who may have been bullied or had a tough time at other schools.
“We, as a school, desire to help those who are having troubles, to be able to provide a safe space for them to grow, at the same time balance across a safe space for the rest of our student body,” he said.
Smith also said the school’s population grew dramatically post-pandemic as many parents sought an alternative to public schools.
In the wake of Monday’s shooting, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are urging elected officials to combat gun violence.
Biden in a statement called the shooting “shocking and unconscionable,” and he mentioned his administration’s efforts to combat the gun violence epidemic in the U.S., including the implementation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
Biden asked Congress to pass “commonsense” gun safety laws, including universal background checks, a national red flag law and a ban on both assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
“It is unacceptable that we are unable to protect our children from this scourge of gun violence,” Biden said, adding, “We cannot continue to accept it as normal.”
“It’s another school shooting, another community being torn about and torn apart by gun violence,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in remarks Tuesday. “And of course, our nation mourns for those who were killed, and we pray for the recovery of those who are injured and for the entire community.”
Harris, who played a role in the Biden administration’s efforts to combat gun violence, stressed, “We as a nation must renew our commitment to end the horror of gun violence, both mass shootings and everyday gun violence that touches so many communities in our nation.”
“We must end it, and we must be committed to have the courage to know that solutions are in hand, but we need elected leaders to have the courage to step up and do the right thing,” she said.
ABC News’ Alex Perez, Briana Stewart and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
(VICTORIA, Texas) — A small plane crashed into three vehicles Wednesday afternoon on a roadway in Victoria, Texas.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the twin-engine Piper PA-31 crashed around 3:00 p.m. local time.
Only the pilot was on board the plane at the time of the crash.
In a video posted on Facebook, which showed the wreckage, the Victoria Police Department said there had been three vehicles and one airplane involved in the crash.
The condition of the vehicles’ occupants is unknown at this time, according to the police department.
“Preliminary information indicates the plane landed on a roadway and struck multiple vehicles,” the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement.
The FAA and the NTSB will investigate the incident.
(NEW ALBANY, Ohio) — Police are looking for a motive after a man allegedly killed two people and injured four others in a workplace shooting at an Ohio manufacturing facility, officials said.
Officers responded to an active shooter report at a New Albany facility run by KDC/One, a beauty products manufacturer, around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, New Albany police said.
One victim was found shot dead inside the building and five others were hospitalized, police said. Police announced early Thursday that one of the five people in the hospital died from their injuries. The four surviving victims remain hospitalized in unknown conditions, police said.
About 150 employees were safely evacuated, police said.
The suspect, identified as employee Bruce Reginald Foster III, fled the scene just before police arrived, New Albany Police Chief Greg Jones said.
Foster, 28, was taken into custody Wednesday morning at a home in Columbus, Jones said.
A motive remains under investigation, Jones said at a news conference Wednesday.
Authorities interviewed the evacuated employees and “nobody had reported that there was any conflict or that [Foster] was in trouble at work,” Jones said.
The chief described the victims as Foster’s co-workers and said they likely knew each other.
New Albany is a safe community, but “any community in America can fall victim to random workplace violence,” New Albany Mayor Sloan Spalding said at the news conference.
Foster legally bought the gun used in the shooting in September 2024, authorities noted.
