A New York judge on Tuesday ruled in favour of the extradition of disgraced film producer, Harvey Weinstein, to Los Angeles where he would face charges of sexual assault of five women in California.
The UK Metro reported that Weinstein who is serving a 23-year sentence after a jury found him guilty of raping an actress in a hotel room in 2013 and sexually assaulting a production assistant by forcing her to give him oral sex in his apartment in 2006.
The filmmaker is also being accused of sexually assaulting five other women from 2004 to 2013 in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.
Erie County Court Judge, Kenneth Case, on Tuesday granted the prayer of California prosecutors who have been seeking to claim custody of the 69-year-old film producer with Los Angeles County authorities likely to take him into their custody as early as late June, according to prosecutors.
Despite his lawyers’ fight against the extradition for months, Case rejected a motion to stop Weinsteinโs extradition that argued that the Los Angeles County district attorneyโs office filed error-ridden paperwork to claim custody of him, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Weinsteinโs lawyers have repeatedly pointed to his deteriorating health in bids to postpone his extradition. Lawyer Norman Effman has asked prosecutors to let Weinstein appear remotely in Los Angeles since he has two surgeries scheduled in New York. Weinsteinโs lawyers have said he is almost blind.
In court on Tuesday, Weinsteinโs lawyer did not go into specifics about his clientโs medical conditions but said he planned to see an eye doctor.
โWeโre not trying to avoid a trial,โ Weinsteinโs lawyer told the judge. โHe will be ready to go to LA when the jury selection begins.โ
But Erie County Assistant District Attorney, Colleen Gable, said that Weinstein could seek a doctor in California.
โItโs Los Angeles. Itโs not some remote outpost that doesnโt have medical care,โ Gable said. โThere is absolutely nothing in either doctorโs report that says this treatment canโt be done in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has some of the best medical care in the country and the world.โ
