Harvey Weinstein spent most of the morning today in a downtown LA courtroom in a pretrial hearing for rape, battery and other sex crimes, but he won’t be facing Rose McGowan or RICO charges any tim…
The convicted sex offender will, however, be facing West Coast justice on grand jury indictments of four counts of rape, four counts of forcible oral copulation, one count of sexual penetration by use of force, plus one count of sexual battery by restraint and sexual battery in incidents involving five women in L.A. County over a nine-year period.Despite Weinstein attorney Mark Werksman assertions that the material submitted to the grand jury this summer by LA Country D.A.
“We are obviously disappointed, but we are also prepared to go forward,” Weinstein spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told Deadline after the hearing. “We believe there are serious flaws in the claims made, the charges filed and the prosecution’s grand jury procedures, and we will bring them to light seeking justice for Mr. Weinstein at trial.
One of the first to speak publicly against Weinstein years ago and a relentless critic of Hollywood’s long indulgence of a culture of casting coaches, rape, and retribution, McGowan inwent after the now-former defendants for a coordinated attempt to silence her and prevent the publication of her memoir.
With just two fraud claims remaining and permission granted to rethink the RICO claims subsequent amended complaint from McGowan also failed to meet Judge Wright’s standard of what constituted racketeering activity. On November 9, the judge wrote that because “defendants’ effort to silence McGowan was a single, unified project with an end goal and an end date,” the heinious behavior was “not the sort of continuous effort that is prohibited by RICO.