A Los Angeles County Judge on Thursday rejected one of 11 sexual assault counts in an indictment of American former film producer, Harvey Weinstein.
Gatekeepers News reports that spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, Greg Risling said count five in the indictment, which is a charge of sexual battery was dropped on Thursday.
Judge Lisa B. Lench while dismissing it, said restraint was too old and outside the statute of limitations two weeks ago. Lench, however, allowed the district attorney’s office to amend the allegation against the former movie mogul and convicted rapist.
The 69-year-old who attended the hearing in LA County jail attire was brought into the courtroom shackled to a wheelchair and was later uncuffed as the proceedings began.
The Judge raised the hope of prosecutors on the dismissed count, noting she may accept it if they reconvene the grand jury and get it to return as a new indictment, but she offered no specific instructions.
Lench said, “I can’t tell you what to do.”
The rejected count dates to May 2010 but the film mogul was first charged with it in January 2020, before the statute of limitations had expired. Six months later, prosecutors got an indictment from a grand jury on an identical count, when the time had elapsed.
Judge Lench agreed with Weinstein’s attorney, Alan Jackson that the grand jury indictment was a new prosecution, and therefore came too late.
Jackson said in court, “The people are grasping to try to save something that is unsalvageable. They did it, they blew it, they can’t fix it.”
Prosecutors, however, argued that it was a continuation of the same case.
Although the count is a small part of the case, dismissing it removes one of five accusers from Weinstein’s forthcoming trial.
The other four counts that are intact include rape and six other sexual assault counts. Last month, Weinstein pleaded not guilty to all of them in his first court appearance in the California case. He made an appearance at the court after he was extradited from New York, where he is serving a 23-year sentence for convictions of rape and sexual assault.
Although other charges against him are for even older incidents, different statutes apply to them.
At the hearing, the defense also revealed that they have been given a list of 248 witnesses for the forthcoming trial, for which no date has been set.
His attorneys will seek to reject many of them, and more technical fights are likely to come as they attempt to wear down the case against him.
Outside the court, Weinstein attorney Mark Werksman said, “Today’s a great example of why we need judges with a backbone…and juries with a tough spine to stand up against false accusations.”
