Just after conflicted sexual predator Harvey Weinstein requested to move up his retrial date for his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges because he didn’t know how long he could last on “hellhole” Rikers Island, actress and accuser Jessica Mann responded to the former film mogul’s claim.
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In a statement provided to PEOPLE, Mann unleashed about Weinstein’s plea. “The irony of Weinstein begging for privilege to be released out of his ‘hell hole,’ is not lost on me,” she said. “The hell he put in my hole will last a lifetime.”
Appearing in a wheelchair at the Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday, Weinstein asked Judge Curtis Farber to move the start of his retrial, citing poor health. “I can’t hold on,” he pleaded. “I’m begging for you to move the date… I want to be out of this hellhole.”
The retrial is currently scheduled to begin on April 15. However, Weinstein, who was previously diagnosed with multiple illnesses, including leukemia, that he “won’t be there” if he remains on Rikers Island. “I want this to be over with,” he said while asking the judge to move up the trial to April 7. “Every day is a struggle. Every day is a struggle in my heart.”
After hearing the plea, Judge Farber stated he had another trial scheduled. However, he said he would do his best to accommodate a date a week earlier if all parties agreed.
In 2020, Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of raping Jessica Mann in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013. He also was found guilty of sexually assaulting another woman in 2006.
The conviction was overturned in 2024 after the New York Court of Appeals ruled that he didn’t receive a fair trial.
Harvey Weinstein Was Indicated on New Sex Crimes Last Fall
Along with the retrial, Weinstein was also indicated on new sex crimes charges by three alleged victims in New York City. Judge Farber denied the motion from the disgraced filmmaker’s legal team to dismiss this indictment.
Weinstein was convicted in California in 2022 for raping an actress in a Beverly Hills hotel. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. His attorneys vowed to appeal the conviction if it stands.
According to The Guardian, prosecutors stated Weinstein was indicted on additional charges that were not part of the case that was overturned. They also said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults. Two of the assaults allegedly occurred at hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood. The other assault is claimed to have happened at a lower Manhattan residential building. The incidents all took place from the mid-2000s to 2016.
Just after the new indictment was announced, Weinstein rushed into emergency surgery to drain fluid around his heart and lungs. In late November 2024, his legal team filed a new claim over the “deplorable conditions” he was enduring on Rikers Island.