Harvey Weinstein's rape trial may get delayed as prosecutors seek new indictment to bolster case

The criminal trial of disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, which is set to begin on 9 September, could be potentially delayed since Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is seeking a new indictment. The DA’s office wants Annabella Sciorra, the Sopranos actress who accused Weinstein of rape, to testify at his criminal trial, reports Variety.  [caption id=“attachment_4350755” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Harvey Weinstein/Image from Twitter.[/caption] Sciorra had detailed in a statement to _The New Yorker Magazin_e her harrowing encounter with Weinstein back in 1993. However, Vulture had reported earlier in August that Sciorra would not be permitted to testify at the trial because the statute of limitation had expired, and that prosecutors were trying to bring up Sciorra’s case to bolster their claim against Weinstein. Weinstein’s lawyer Diana Fabi Samson, says in a statement to Vanity Fair, “We believe that any last-ditch effort to recharge the defendant will prove futile, because as the DA well knows, it is unconstitutional to charge this defendant with a 25-year old alleged crime that predates the enactment of the statute and is time-barred. The judge did not have to reach these issues because the DA had illegally charged the defendant with this crime in a bill of particulars. Should the DA re-present this case yet again, the judge will then have the opportunity to dismiss the charge on constitutional grounds.” Weinstein, 67, is charged in New York with forcibly performing oral sex on a woman in July 2006 and raping another woman in March 2013. He faces five charges, including rape, and a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to the five criminal charges. The defendants are among some 70 women, mostly young actresses and women in the film industry, who have accused Weinstein of sexual assaults dating back decades. He has denied the allegations. Recently,  Brad Pitt  had compared the infamous Manson family murders, which took place in 1969, to the Weinstein scandal, saying they rattled and changed the course of Hollywood in the same way.