Harvey Weinstein unsuccessfully begged a Manhattan judge Wednesday to move up his trial date, claiming he’s not sure he’ll live until the spring when his rape trial is set to take place. “Every day I’m at Rikers Island, it’s a miracle I’m still walking,” Weinstein told New York Supreme Court Justice Curtis Farber, Courthouse News reports. The disgraced Hollywood film producer will be retried on April 15 for sex crimes he was convicted of in 2020, when a Manhattan jury found him guilty of committing a criminal sexual act and third-degree rape. Last year, the New York Court of Appeals overturned his conviction, finding that the trial judge allowed prejudicial testimony against Weinstein. He will face an additional charge of a criminal sexual act in the first degree, to which he pleaded not guilty last September.
Farber said he could not move the trial to an earlier date because he is scheduled to preside over a murder trial that is “set in stone.” But Weinstein described his cancer, a heart problem, and a treacherous jail environment. “I can’t hold on anymore,” Weinstein said. “I’m holding on because I want justice for myself and I want this to be over with.” Though Weinstein conceded he’s not the only person suffering at Rikers Island, he described the heavily criticized New York City jail complex as a “medieval situation."
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