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Harvey Weinstein was indicted Wednesday by a Manhattan grand jury on charges of rape and a criminal sexual act in connection with allegations by two women, prosecutors announced.
“This indictment brings the defendant another step closer to accountability for the crimes of violence with which he is now charged,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement.
“Our office will try this case not in the press, but in the courtroom where it belongs. The defendant’s recent assault on the integrity of the survivors and the legal process is predictable. We are confident that when the jury hears the evidence, it will reject these attacks out of hand.”
The indictment came just hours after Weinstein’s attorney announced the disgraced producer would not appear before the grand jury, saying he didn’t have enough time or information to prepare him for testimony.
“Our request for a postponement of his appearance before the Grand Jury was denied,” attorney Ben Brafman said in a statement Wednesday morning.
Weinstein, whose behavior unleashed the #MeToo movement, was arrested Friday and arraigned that afternoon.
One accuser, Lucia Evans, says Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex after luring her to his Tribeca office for a meeting in 2004. The other woman, who has not been publicly identified, alleges Weinstein raped her in 2013 at a Manhattan hotel.
Brafman complained that he was “unfairly denied access to critical information about this case that was needed to defend [Weinstein] before the grand jury,” but he did not provide any details about what he was seeking. Prosecutors had no immediate comment.
“Mr. Weinstein’s attorneys noted that regardless of how compelling Mr. Weinstein’s personal testimony might be, an indictment was inevitable due to the unfair political pressure being placed on Cy Vance to secure a conviction of Mr. Weinstein,” the statement from Brafman’s office said.
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