Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
A judge on Tuesday cleared the way for Harvey Weinstein to be extradited to California from New York to face rape and sexual assault charges, nearly a year after Los Angeles prosecutors asked that the convicted former movie producer be moved.
Erie County Court Judge Kenneth Case in Buffalo, New York, rejected arguments by Weinstein's legal team that the paperwork for the move had not been done, and that Weinstein, 69, should stay in New York to get needed medical care.
"If California doesn't come to pick up Mr. Weinstein within a reasonable period of time, certainly come back to see me," Case told Norman Effman, a lawyer representing Weinstein.
Los Angeles prosecutors plan to extradite Weinstein between late June and mid-July so he can face an 11-count indictment accusing him of attacking five women from 2004 to 2013.
Mark Werksman, another lawyer for Weinstein, said in an email that Weinstein is appealing Case's decision and asking a Los Angeles judge to block the extradition "until he can receive the medical care he needs in New York."
The office of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon first sought Weinstein's extradition last July, but it was delayed in part by the COVID-19 pandemic. It had no immediate comment on Tuesday's ruling.
Weinstein is serving a 23-year prison term following his February 2020 conviction in Manhattan for sexually assaulting a production assistant in 2006 and third-degree rape of an aspiring actress in 2013.
He is appealing his conviction and sentence, and has denied having nonconsensual sex with anyone.
Weinstein has been locked up since last spring at the maximum-security Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo, where he attended Tuesday's hearing by video link.
Effman has said Weinstein, a diabetic, has suffered from cardiac, dental and back problems and was "almost technically blind," and at the hearing proposed letting him stay in New York until the Los Angeles trial began.
Colleen Curtin Gable, a New York prosecutor appearing on behalf of Gascon, countered that Weinstein could get medical care he needs in California.
"Los Angeles has some of the best medical care in not only the country but in the world, so all of the medical issues can certainly be addressed elsewhere," she said.
Weinstein's conviction is now seen as a watershed moment in the #MeToo movement against sexual abuse and harassment by men.
The Los Angeles charges include forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual battery by restraint, and sexual penetration by use of force. If convicted, Weinstein could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Weinstein co-founded the Miramax film and television company, whose hit independent movies include "Shakespeare in Love" and "Pulp Fiction."
Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis.
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.