Just under a month after seeing one of the counts dropped in the criminal case that could put him behind bars for life, a bolstered Harvey Weinstein today moved to get the rest of the case dismissed.
In papers filed in New York Supreme Court on Monday, the much accused and disgraced producer’s lawyer Ben Brafman is seeking the tossing out of “the entire indictment, or particulars thereof, as arising out a Grand Jury proceeding that was irreparably tainted and rendered defective by police misconduct, Lucia Evans false testimony and the District Attorney’s failure to provide exculpatory emails to the Grand Jury (all counts), unsupported by legally sufficient evidence (Count One) or based on an unconstitutional statute (Counts One and Three).”
Related Stories
Basically, the documents (read them here) declare that the NYPD are corrupt, the D.A. is incompetent, one of Weinstein’s alleged victims is a liar, Harvey’s not a sexual predator and we should all move on.
Watch on Deadline
Already set to appear before Justice James Burke on December 20 in the only criminal case so far in the country against Weinstein, Brafman is seeking anther hearing on the motions on the remaining five counts submitted Monday.
Slammed with a barrage of criticism in today’s files, the Manhattan D.A.’s office declined to comment when contacted by Deadline.
As the NYC-case takes another battering from the defense looking to kill the matter altogether by a thousand missteps, Weinstein faces new damning allegations in one of the many civil cases against him. On October 31, an amended class-action complaint filed in federal court claimed that Weinstein tried to rape a 16-year old virgin model in 2002 and continued harassing her for many years afterward in both New York and Los Angeles. Brafman called those allegations from a Jane Doe “preposterous” in response.
Out on $1 million bail after having entered a not-guilty plea to the first round of indictments and surrendering his passport earlier this year, Weinstein was last in court on October 11. That’s when then college student and aspiring actor Evans’ allegations against Weinstein of being forced to perform oral sex on him in his office in 2004 were undermined by additional evidence that suggested their relationship was consensual.
After the October 11 hearing, an attorney for Evans said that the dropping of the count “says nothing about Weinstein’s guilt or innocence.” Rather, “it only speaks volumes about the Manhattan D.A.’s office and its mishandling of my client’s case.”
Along with being accused by more than 60 women of sexual assault or sexual harassment, Weinstein is under investigation by federal prosecutors as well as probes by the Manhattan D.A.’s office and the NYPD. Additional allegations against Weinstein have been reviewed by the LAPD, which sent an initial trio of cases to the L.A. County D.A. on February 8. Another case was handed over to that same office early last month. As UK police continue their investigation, the Beverly Hills Police first passed two cases of sexual assault that they say occurred in their jurisdiction to Lacey’s office on January 2.