Harvey Weinstein looks sickly as he’s wheeled into court to fight extradition to LA jail after hospital stay – following bombshell overturning of rape conviction in New York

A sickly-looking Harvey Weinstein was wheeled into a New York City courtroom on Thursday as authorities considered whether he should be extradited to California to serve prison time.  

The disgraced media mogul is trying to avoid being sent to California to serve a 16-year sentence he received in 2023 for raping a woman at a 2013 Los Angeles film festival. 

On Thursday, his legal team refused any extradition meaning New York’s District Attorney’s Office will need an extradition warrant from California Governor Gavin Newsom, despite prosecutors previously obtaining a fugitive warrant.

When Weinstein’s New York conviction was overturned late last month, California petitioned for him to be extradited to serve time there for his 2022 rape convictions in that state.

The case is adjourned until August 7, and the disgraced media mogul was remanded back into custody following Thursday’s hearing.

Thursday’s hearing in Queens criminal court took place days after Weinstein left a city hospital where he was treated for pneumonia and other illnesses.

The hearing was over California’s extradition request, according to prosecutors and defense attorneys. 

Weinstein arrived in a wheelchair, pushed by custody officials, wearing a dark suit.

He looked sickly and pale as he listened to his attorneys. 

Weinstein has been held in the Riker’s Island jail complex since Monday.  

The 72-year-old has been in New York custody while Manhattan’s district attorney works to retry him after the 2020 conviction against him was overturned last month.

At a hearing last week, prosecutors said they could be ready to re-try the case as soon as September, and that at least one of two alleged victims was willing to testify again.

In that case, the once powerful former movie mogul is accused of raping an aspiring actor in 2013 and sexually assaulting a TV and film production assistant in 2006. He denies the charges.

Overturning the conviction last month, New York´s highest court found that the trial judge prejudiced Weinstein with improper rulings, including by letting other women testify about allegations he wasn´t charged with.

The New York Court of Appeals ruled that the movie producer did not receive a fair trial when he was convicted – effectively erasing his 23-year New York prison sentence and ordering a retrial.

They concluded that a trial judge had permitted jurors to see and hear too much evidence not directly related to the charges he faced. 

Prosecutors said they intend to retry him on charges that he forcibly performed oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 and raped an aspiring actor in 2013.

After his New York conviction was overturned he cried tears of joy and insisted he wasn’t a rapist, his spokesman has said. 

Weinstein has been serving 23 years in a New York jail for the two sex attacks against aspiring actress Jessica Mann and production assistant Mimi Haleyi.

Prosecutors told the court at the time: ‘We believe in this case and will be trying this case.’

‘Jessica Mann is here in court. She’s here to show she’s not backing down and is committed to seeing justice is served again.

‘The defendant may have power and privilege but she has the truth. We have every belief the defendant will be convicted again after trial.’

Prosecutors said that they wanted the trial to happen in the fall, possibly September.

Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala told the court: ‘We’re not asking for bail. Mr Weinstein has very very serious medical issues’.

He praised the Department of Corrections for taking care of Weinstein’s needs.

He said: ‘He’s sharp as a tack. He’s as smart as he ever was. He’s read hundreds and hundreds of books. I have no issue whatsoever about his mental abilities.’

During his four years in jail since his 2020 conviction, Weinstein has been beset by health issues including heart problems, mobility issues and diabetes.

Last month he was taken to Bellevue Hospital in New York where doctors conducted a slew of tests on him.

His attorney Aidala said: ‘They examined him and sent him to Bellevue. It seems like he needs a lot of help, physically. He’s got a lot of problems. He’s getting all kinds of tests. He’s somewhat of a train wreck health wise.’

‘He was not treated well. They refused to give him even a sip of water, no food, no bathroom break,’ Aidala said. ‘He’s a 72-year-old sickly man.’ 

Weinstein was once the most powerful man in Hollywood who made hits like Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love with his film companies Miramax and The Weinstein Co.

He dominated Hollywood in the 1990s and won 81 Oscars as he became part of the world elite and grew especially close to Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Now The Weinstein Co. is bankrupt, his wife Georgina Chapman has divorced him and his empire is in ruins.