Harvey Weinstein will remain in New York State prison after extradition to California is postponed

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Harvey Weinstein was seen on video during a court hearing in which he appeared via Zoom from his prison in Western New York on Friday, where he will remain for the time being after his extradition to California was delayed.

The 68-year-old former Hollywood mogul-turned-convicted rapist appeared from prison before Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case, who, because of the worsening pandemic, agreed to postpone Weinstein’s extradition hearing until April 9.

Seated at a table at the maximum-security Wende Correctional Facility east of Buffalo, Weinstein, wearing a maroon polo shirt and face mask, spoke only briefly in response to a series of questions from the judge. 

Weinstein will remain there for now after his lawyers and prosecutors agreed Friday to postpone efforts to send him to California to face sexual assault charges.

 He waved his hand and shook his head in objection to a news station’s request to allow a television camera in the courtroom. The judge kept the camera out but allowed media to record the video proceedings.

‘We’re not looking for publicity, judge,’ Weinstein’s attorney, Norman Effman, said.

Weinstein, 68, is serving a 23-year prison sentence after being convicted in New York City earlier this year on charges of rape and sexual assault against two women.

He faces similar charges involving five women in California, stemming from alleged assaults in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills from 2004 to 2013.

Because Weinstein is imprisoned in New York, a judge must sign off on transferring him to the custody of Los Angeles authorities to be tried there.

Effman cited Weinstein’s health in supporting the continued delay of the extradition proceedings originally scheduled for August.

Weinstein survived a bout with the coronavirus in March at the prison. 

His lawyers said he experienced symptoms of COVID-19 again in mid-November but did not test positive for the disease at that time.

‘Obviously, the pandemic has become worse rather than better,’ Effman said. 

‘The issues pertaining to transportation of someone from New York to California, and specifically with respect to Mr. Weinstein’s own very serious health conditions, remains the same.’

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office agreed to the first delay because of the pandemic as well.  

Earlier this week, DailyMail.com reported that Weinstein was paid a visit in prison last Friday by his 27-year-old actress girlfriend Alexandra Vino.

She stayed for several hours chatting with the 68-year-old convicted rapist, who is now eight-and-a-half months into his 23-year sentence.

‘They were in a back room that is kept specially for prisoners in IPC — involuntary protective custody,’ said a witness to the meeting.

‘He got up several times to use the bathroom,’ said the source. ‘He can still only get about with a walker, just like when he was in court, but the difference between then and now is that he has a lot more color in his cheeks, he didn’t look so deathly ill.’

Prisons in New York restarted inmate visits in August after halting them at the start of the COVID pandemic. But with the pandemic raging again in New York — especially around Buffalo — a lockdown could soon be on the cards again.

So, Vino was taking advantage of what could be a small window to see her multi-millionaire felon boyfriend.

‘She had to keep away from him, there is no hugging or touching now, and of course, they both had to wear a mask,’ said the source. ‘But they sat close together, and I am sure if it weren’t for the COVID restrictions they would have been holding hands.

‘Their visit, like all those in IPC was filmed — there was a camera on a tripod in the room with them. A correction officer sat by the camera and two more were stationed just outside the door.’

Vino arrived at the prison – 360 miles northwest of her home in New York City – bright and early and stayed until visiting time ended at 3 pm, the source said.   

‘She just looked so happy to see him,’ said the source. ‘Her hair was neatly pulled back and she went to the coffee machine several times and brought back drinks for both of them.’

Vino was first linked to Weinstein late last year shortly before he was convicted for third-degree rape and first-degree sexual assault.

While he was still out on bail, she was seen canoodling with him at Manhattan hotspots Downtime and Socialista and even stood up for him when a woman approached him protesting his presence, the New York Post reported. 

She told the paper: ‘Everyone seems to f**king hate Harvey but they don’t realize they don’t really hate Harvey.

‘They are being told how to feel. He is a scapegoat for this entire #MeToo movement and they’ve destroyed his life. It’s been like a human sacrifice.

‘People get 23 years in prison for murdering people, not for what he did,’ she added.

Late last year the May-December couple checked into the Molly Pitcher Inn in Red Bank, New Jersey, and had to pay extra for smoking weed in a non-smoking room, the Hollywood Reporter said.

Perhaps suffering from the munchies, the loved-up couple ordered ‘several ice creams’ to their room.

However, at the time, Weinstein’s rep insisted he only smoked tobacco and had had two ice cream sundaes at the bar. The rep said Vino had only visited him with a male friend.

‘There is nothing romantic about their platonic relationship,’ the rep said. ‘Under no circumstances was Mr. Weinstein smoking marijuana. Relapsing, he did however smoke a couple of cigarettes and once notified that he was not staying in a smoking room, he stopped smoking immediately.’

Weinstein, one of the most successful movie producers in Hollywood’s history was brought down when actress Ashley Judd told the New York Times that in 1997 he had invited her to his room at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel in the late 1990s for a business breakfast meeting. When she got there, he appeared in his bathrobe and asked her for a massage.

That interview opened the floodgates and more than 100 other women, including Cate Blanchett, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Beckinsale, Madonna and Lupita N’yongo, said they had had unwanted sexual encounters with him.

Twenty of them said that he had raped them. He is still facing four charges of rape, as well as forced oral copulation, sexual assault, sexual battery in California.

At his New York trial he made great play of relying on his walker to get about. ‘The decrepit-looking Mr. Weinstein, body hunched as he slowly rolls forward, contrasts sharply with his former image as a domineering Hollywood power broker,’ Professor Jasmine Harris wrote in the New York Times. 

Harris said research shows that jurors tend to be more lenient with defendants who are older or have disabilities.

Weinstein won an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love and was nominated for Gangs of New York. His other movies included The Crying Game, Sex, Lies and Videotape, Pulp Fiction, The King’s Speech and Inglourious Basterds. He was expelled from the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences after allegations started to pile up against him.

His second wife, Georgina Chapman, left him amid the accusations. 

Vino was a teenage commercial actress who has had parts in the movies Spenser Confidential and Badmaa$h Company.

She defended her man, saying: ‘I know what Oscar parties are like, I know what goes on. I’ve seen the gorgeous women throwing themselves at Harvey and other powerful men all day long. ‘These girls in L.A. and New York are not naive. You don’t hit on a guy (like Weinstein) with a track record for hitting on women. What, and then you’re all, ‘Oh I can’t believe he asked me for a back massage?’ Come on.’

She did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s calls and messages asking for comment.