Harvey Weinstein to appear in Manhattan court for arraignment on new indictment
Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for a pretrial hearing, following his overturned sex crimes conviction, in New York City, July 19, 2024. (KENA BETANCUR/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Harvey Weinstein’s criminal sexual assault case is scheduled to return on Wednesday to a Manhattan courtroom — and if Weinstein shows up he will be arraigned on a new indictment.
The charges remain sealed until Weinstein appears. The former movie mogul missed his last court date after being rushed to the hospital for emergency heart surgery.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office presented to the grand jury allegations of three separate women who said Weinstein sexually assaulted them. Their allegations were not part of the initial trial of Weinstein that ended in a conviction, which was later overturned on appeal.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement earlier this year, when the conviction was overturned.
Weinstein has denied all claims of sexual misconduct, saying his encounters were consensual.
(GATESVILLE, Tx.) — The family of Melissa Lucio, a death row inmate whose execution was delayed in 2022, expressed hope that the Texas woman would be freed after a judge concluded last month that Lucio is “actually innocent” after she was convicted of capital murder in 2008 for the death of her 2-year-old daughter.
“This is the best news we could get going into the holidays,” said her son, John Lucio, and daughter-in-law Michelle Lucio in a statement released by the Innocence Project.
“We pray our mother will be home soon,” the Lucios added, joined by Lucio’s son, Bobby Alvarez.
In a 62-page ruling that was signed on Oct. 16, 2024, and reviewed by ABC News, Senior State District Judge Arturo Nelson recommended that Lucio’s conviction and death sentence be overturned in the 2007 death of her daughter Mariah.
The judge found that prosecutors suppressed evidence and testimony – including statements from Lucio’s other children – that could support the argument that Lucio was not abusive and that her daughter’s death was accidental after a fall down the stairs.
“This Court finds (Lucio) has satisfied her burden and produced clear and convincing evidence that she is actually innocent of the offense of capital murder,” Nelson wrote in the ruling.
“(T)his Court concludes there is clear and convincing evidence that no rational juror could convict Applicant of capital murder or any lesser included offense,” Nelson added.
The judge’s recommendation was sent to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for review. ABC News reached out to the court for updates in the case.
“Melissa Lucio lived every parent’s nightmare when she lost her daughter after a tragic accident,” Vanessa Potkin, director of special litigation at the Innocence Project, and one of Lucio’s attorneys, said in a statement on Thursday.
“It became a nightmare from which she couldn’t wake up when she was sent to death row for a crime that never happened. After 16 years on death row, it’s time for the nightmare to end. Melissa should be home right now with her children and grandchildren.”
Lucio has maintained her innocence over the years.
ABC News reached out to the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted this case, but a request for comment was not immediately returned.
Lucio’s story gained national attention through filmmaker Sabrina Van Tassel’s 2020 Netflix documentary, “Melissa vs. the State of Texas,” a documentary that follows Lucio’s journey on death row as she filed her last appeal.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers backed the calls to free the Texas woman and her case was further bolstered by celebrities who called for her freedom, like Kim Kardashian and Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun who wrote the book “Dead Man Walking.”
Abraham Bonowitz, coordinator of the #FreeMelissaLucio Campaign and executive director of Death Penalty Action, told ABC News in a statement on Thursday that Lucio credits the film with bringing attention to her case.
“Melissa Lucio was once two days from execution. It took a film viewed by millions and a massive public relations campaign just to halt her execution and get the courts to order a fresh look at the evidence,” Bonowitz said.
“If it were not for the film that was created, there would never have been enough pressure to stop the execution, which should concern us all — that if you don’t have a film and you don’t have a big campaign, then you can’t be heard,” Bonowitz added in a phone interview on Monday with ABC News.
Amid growing calls for the court to review her case in 2022, Lucio was granted a stay of her scheduled April 27, 2022, execution by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on April 25, 2022 – after nearly 15 years on death row.
“I thank God for my life,” Lucio said in an April 2022 statement reacting to the stay. “I am grateful the Court has given me the chance to live and prove my innocence. Mariah is in my heart today and always. I am grateful to have more days to be a mother to my children and a grandmother to my grandchildren.”
(NEW YORK) — New York City police are searching for five suspects wanted in a “gang assault” on former New York Gov. David Paterson and his 20-year-old stepson on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, according to officials.
The attack, which unfolded around 8:35 p.m. Friday by 96th Street and 2nd Avenue, began as a “verbal altercation” between the suspects and the 70-year-old former governor and his stepson, the NYPD said.
The suspects had had “a previous interaction” with the stepson, Paterson’s spokesperson told ABC New York station WABC, noting that the attack took place near the victims’ home.
The suspects hit the victims in the face and body, police said.
Paterson and his stepson managed fight off the attackers, the spokesperson said, and the suspects fled on foot, according to police.
Paterson and his stepson were both taken to the hospital in stable condition, police said, and they’ve since been released, the spokesperson said.
Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor of New York from 2008 to 2010. Paterson was New York’s first African American governor and the nation’s first legally blind governor.
Paterson and his wife “are thankful for the quick response time from the police and the outpouring of support they have received,” Paterson’s spokesperson said, adding, “The Governor’s only request is that people refrain from attempting to use an unfortunate act of violence for their own personal or political gain.”
“Governor Paterson’s main concern today is Kodai Senga and the New York Mets, but we will provide any additional updates as necessary,” the spokesperson added.
The NYPD asks anyone with information to call the Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS or submit information online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org.
(NEW YORK) — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is expected to propose the next steps in Donald Trump’s New York hush money case Tuesday after the “unprecedented circumstances” of the former president’s election following his conviction on 34 felony counts earlier this year.
Trump’s sentencing in the criminal case is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 26, though defense attorneys have urged New York Judge Juan Merchan to dismiss the case ahead of Trump’s impending inauguration.
“The stay, and dismissal, are necessary to avoid unconstitutional impediments to President Trump’s ability to govern,” defense attorney Emil Bove told the court last week.
Since July, Trump’s attorneys have been pushing to have the conviction vacated and the case dismissed by arguing that prosecutors filled “glaring holes in their case” with evidence of official acts that the Supreme Court recently ruled off limits in its landmark presidential immunity decision.
Trump’s lawyers have also argued for a dismissal by citing the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, which urges government officers to take “lawful steps to avoid or minimize disruptions” to the presidential transition.
While prosecutors have argued that the Supreme Court’s ruling that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken while in office has no bearing on Trump’s conviction, they haven’t publicly signaled a position on the upcoming sentencing since Trump’s election.
Prosecutors requested additional time to advise the court about the “appropriate steps going forward” based on the impact of Trump’s victory.
“The People agree that these are unprecedented circumstances,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told the court last week.
Following the joint request for additional time, Judge Merchan delayed his ruling on how the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision impacts Trump’s case, which he originally planned to release last week.
Trump was convicted in May of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to silence allegations about a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
His conviction carries a maximum penalty of up to four years in prison, but first-time offenders would normally receive a lesser sentence.
