Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new indictment, trial delayed

NEW YORK (AP) — Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty to a new indictment Monday that includes revised charges of predatory sexual assault, a development that caused the judge to delay the start of his trial until early next year.

The tweak to the case was intended to open the door for an actress to testify against Weinstein in a rape and sexual assault trial that had been scheduled to start on September 9.

Weinstein was in and out of a Manhattan courthouse quickly to enter the plea.

He didn’t speak with reporters.

After the hearing, his lawyers said they would ask the judge to dismiss the indictment, which they called a “desperate” attempt to salvage the case.

“I think the case itself is weak,” said his lawyer Donna Rotunno.

Weinstein previously pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of raping a woman in 2013 and performing a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006.

Prosecutors said the new indictment was needed to bring evidence involving Annabella Sciorra, best known for her work on “The Sopranos.”

She says Weinstein raped her inside her Manhattan apartment after she starred in a film for his movie studio in 1993.

Sciorra isn’t being added as a victim in the case, because the alleged attack took place too long ago to be prosecuted under state law, but prosecutors want to use her testimony to prove that Weinstein had a pattern of assaulting women.

That’s necessary to prove the charge of predatory sexual assault.

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