The Manhattan district attorney’s office has asked the judge overseeing Harvey Weinstein’s retrial on sex crimes charges to urge the lead defense lawyer to stop making public statements that prosecutors said were intended to intimidate and to attack the “credibility and character” of witnesses.
In a letter to the judge filed on Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court, prosecutors asked Justice Curtis Farber to remind the lawyer, Arthur Aidala, of his “ethical obligations” regarding out-of-court statements under the New York Rules of Professional Conduct.
They accused him of violating the rules with critical public statements about Miriam Haley, a television production assistant. She testified at Mr. Weinstein’s 2020 trial that he forced oral sex on her in his Manhattan apartment in July 2006.
Mr. Weinstein, a former Hollywood producer, was convicted of committing a criminal sexual act against Ms. Haley and raping another woman, but the convictions were overturned last month after New York’s highest court ruled that he had not had a fair trial. At a news conference days later, Mr. Aidala accused Ms. Haley of lying to the jury and said he would diligently prepare to cross-examine her at the retrial if she “dares to come and show her face here.”
Mr. Aidala’s comments went beyond “mere posturing” and were “designed to let Ms. Haley know that if she testifies, Mr. Aidala will make it as unpleasant for her as possible,” prosecutors said in the letter. In footnotes, they pushed back on Mr. Aidala’s claims that Ms. Haley had lied to the jury.
Mr. Aidala did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday morning.
Mr. Aidala’s news conference followed a court hearing on May 1 at which prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, led by the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, reaffirmed the office’s plan to retry Mr. Weinstein. Prosecutors said in court that “it was a strong case in 2020,” and that “it remains a strong case in 2024.”
Afterward, Mr. Aidala not only reasserted his client’s innocence but made several statements about key accusers in Mr. Weinstein’s 2020 trial, as well as about Gloria Allred, a lawyer who has represented several of Mr. Weinstein’s accusers in New York and in his similar case in Los Angeles.
During the 2020 trial when Mr. Aidala was part of the defense team, the judge “repeatedly had to remind defense counsel to refrain from improper public statements,” prosecutors said in the letter.
“The People hope to avoid similar issues during the retrial,” they wrote.
In the decision overturning Mr. Weinstein’s conviction last month, the New York Court of Appeals agreed with Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers that the judge in the first trial, Justice James Burke, had erred when he let several women testify that Mr. Weinstein had assaulted them, even though their accusations were not part of the charges brought against Mr. Weinstein.
Mr. Aidala has trumpeted the victory ever since and used it to position himself as a knowledgeable television commentator on an even more prominent case: the criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump.
In the weeks since, New York lawmakers introduced bills that would change state law to explicitly allow prosecutors to use evidence of prior “bad acts” in sex crimes cases. If the legislation is passed this session, it could go into effect immediately, meaning it could be applied to Mr. Weinstein’s retrial, according to State Senator Michael Gianaris, the deputy majority leader.
Mr. Weinstein is expected to be back in court on Wednesday for a hearing. Prosecutors said previously that they could be ready for the retrial as soon as this fall.
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