Harvey Weinstein violated bail conditions by mishandling electronic ankle tag, court hears

Case of producer who is charged with rape and sexual assault goes to trial in January

Harvey Weinstein arrives at New York State Supreme Court for a bail hearing on Friday (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AFP via Getty)

Harvey Weinstein violated his bail conditions by mishandling his electronic ankle-monitor, which left his whereabouts unrecorded for hours at a time, a New York prosecutor has alleged.

The prosecutor, Joan Illuzzi, spoke at a pre-trial hearing for Mr Weinstein, who is free on $1m (£760,000) bail. He is accused of leaving at home a piece of the monitoring technology that keeps the ankle bracelet activated.

Defence attorney Donna Rotunno denied it was deliberate. She blamed "technical glitches", such as dead batteries. Mr Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault.

“It has nothing to do with any manipulation of the bracelet,” Ms Rotunno told reporters after leaving court on Friday. She acknowledged that, on at least one occasion, he had forgotten part of the device when he left the house. “The minute he realised he forgot it, he made a phone call,” she said.

A judge deferred any decision about whether Mr Weinstein would face any penalty over the alleged violations until next week.

The producer was in court for one of many proceedings that courts across the state are scheduling to apprise defendants of reforms to New York’s bail system that are set to take effect on 1 January.

State legislators passed a law this year eliminating cash bail for most non-violent crimes. For poorer defendants facing lesser charges, these appearances could mean release from jail in the new year — or refunds for those who have posted bail.

Those outcomes are unlikely to happen in Mr Weinstein’s case, which is scheduled to go to trial in January.

Unlike the former film producer, poorer defendants who have been hauled into courthouses for lesser offences have ended up in jail if they are unable to afford a bail of even a few hundred dollars.

That financial and fairness divide is one that New York lawmakers are aiming to solve with the sweeping bail reforms.

Mr Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to charges that he allegedly raped a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performed a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006. He maintains that any sexual activity was consensual.

Additional reporting by agencies