TO LIVE AND DIE IN LA: Wheelchair-bound Weinstein pleads not guilty; Faces 140 years…

The Sun

By Mollie Mansfield & Laura Gesualdi-Gilmore

WHEELCHAIR-bound Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of sexual assault in a Los Angeles courtroom today.

Weinstein entered the plea just one day after he was seen with a support strap around his chest as he touched down in LA to face sex assault charges.

The disgraced movie producer, 69, arrived on a private jet on Tuesday after being extradited from New York for the Los Angeles court hearing.

The people transporting Weinstein, who uses a walker, appeared to be holding him up using a chest strap as he exited the plane.

Weinstein is facing 11 counts of rape and sexual assault, charges that could carry a maximum sentence of 140 years. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Weinstein was pushed into the courtroom in a wheelchair on Wednesday morning, wearing a wrinkled brown jail uniform, in handcuffs and a hospital wristband.

“Good luck, Mr Weinstein,” the judge said before setting the movie mogul’s next court date, to which he replied, “thank you very much.”

The disgraced producer has maintained his innocence and insisted that any sexual activity was consensual.

LAWYERS FIGHTING EXTRADITION

Weinstein’s lawyer had been trying to fight his extradition to LA, citing health concerns.

“He has spinal stenosis, he’s going blind in one eye, he’s missing teeth. He really needs urgent medical care,” attorney Mark Werksman told The Daily Mail.

Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year sentence in New York after being found guilty of rape and sexual assault in March 2020.

He was convicted of raping an aspiring actress in New York City in 2013 and sexually assaulting a production assistant at his apartment in 2006.

In addition to his convictions and the charges he’s facing in LA, it is believed that at least 100 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct.

Many of them say they were raped or sexually assaulted by the film producer.

It has also been alleged that Weinstein blacklisted many of the women who have accused him of misconduct.

Actress Rose McGowan said that Weinstein raped her and derailed her career.

Director Peter Jackson said the mogul discouraged him from casting Mira Sorvino and Ashley Judd in his films.

Both actresses say they were harassed by Weinstein.

The many allegations against the producer skyrocketed the #MeToo movement into the national spotlight.

This article originally appeared in The Sun