The disgraced Hollywood producer and convicted sex offender, 69, has been charged with 11 counts of sexual assault in California. The charges, which include rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual battery by restraint and sexual penetration by use of force, stem from incidents alleged to have taken place against five women from 2004 to 2013. Weinstein was convicted in New York of third-degree rape and sexual assault in February 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison.New York Judge Kenneth Case approved the extradition order following a legal dispute prolonged by the pandemic and the defence’s concerns over Weinstein’s alleged ailing health.Mr Case said there was no reason to delay Weinstein’s transfer and denied his lawyer’s request to keep him at a state prison near Buffalo, New York pending the start of his upcoming trial in Los Angeles.“We are disappointed in this decision today,” Mark Werksman, Weinstein’s defence lawyer, said in a statement.“Just now, Mr Weinstein’s lawyer filed a writ of Habeas Corpus in the LA county Superior Court. We are asking the court to hold off the extradition of Mr Weinstein to Los Angeles until he can receive his needed medical care here in New York.”The writ alleges that Weinstein’s rights would be violated by extradition to another state partly because of a degenerative eye condition that requires ongoing medical treatment.Elizabeth Fegan, the lawyer for Jane Doe 4 in the Los Angeles case, said the court’s decision to extradite Weinstein was “excellent news”.“He has used every excuse for delay … time’s up. He will have to answer again for his horrific sexual abuse,” she said.Louise Godbold, one of several women who have accused Weinstein of sexual assault, said in a statement that she was “happy that five more women will have the chance to face their abuser in court”.“Sadly, the statute of limitations means that at least a hundred more can only look on,” she added.In a statement, John Flynn, district attorney of Erie County in New York, said that the LA County DA’s Office had “indicated to our prosecutors that they would extradite Mr Weinstein sometime between late-June and mid-July”.A Los Angeles County district attorney spokesperson said Weinstein “is entitled to a trial within 120 days from his arrival in Los Angeles, although it is unclear at this time when he will actually arrive in LA”.A lawyer for Weinstein, who was once one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood, told reporters they will appeal the ruling.The LA case follows Weinstein’s 2020 conviction was widely considered a landmark moment in the #MeToo movement against the sexual abuse and harassment of women.Lauren Young, the only identified accuser in the LA case, previously said that the former movie mogul lured her into his hotel room after a meeting in Beverly Hills in 2013 where he allegedly trapped her in a bathroom, grabbed her breast and masturbated before she fled.In total, some 80 women have accused the former producer of sexual abuse in the US and Europe.Weinstein has denied having non-consensual relations with anyone.
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