Harvey Weinstein’s Declining Health Worsens With Tongue Infection, 20-Pound Weight Gain

With jury selection underway in Harvey Weinstein’s New York retrial, his lawyers pleaded Wednesday with the judge to allow the disgraced movie mogul to spend his nights at Bellvue Hospital instead of Rikers Island, arguing that the stress and rigors of daily court appearances will derail his failing health.

Their urgent appeal came on the second day of jury selection, arguing that conditions in the notorious city jail are worsening Weinstein’s growing list of dire health issues. Weinstein attorney Imran Ansari’s Tuesday night filing added a tongue infection and 20-pound weight gain to the roll of serious failings her client is dealing with, including chronic myeloid leukemia, heart issues, diabetes, sleep apnea, sciatica and walking ability limitations.

For months, Weinstein’s attorneys have been reporting these issues to the judge as new problems have prompted several short- and longer-term visits to Bellevue, including heart surgery.

Ansari wrote that freezing temperatures and a lack of adequate clothing at Rikers have caused Weinstein to become “worn down considerably health wise, and [he] now faces the stress of trial in this condition, which may very well lead to serious health complications, even his death.”

Weinstein was in court Wednesday morning as Judge Curtis J. Farber continued asking potential jurors about their ability to be impartial, with the defendant craning back to look at them. Prosecutors and defense attorneys spent the day paring down a group of 25 prospective jurors, tough none was chosen for the 12-member panel with six alternates.

Opening statements were expected to begin next week. Weinstein is being retried on criminal sexual and rape charges that were overturned by New York’s highest court last year over improper evidence and rulings. Weinstein has pleaded not guilty.

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