Weinstein Open to Plea on Remaining Assault Charge

In a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday, Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood producer, expressed openness to a guilty plea on an unresolved sexual assault charge, potentially avoiding a third trial in New York, even as he maintained his innocence and protested his treatment in custody.

Judge Curtis Farber denied Weinstein's motion to overturn his June conviction for a first-degree criminal sexual act against former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006, a charge carrying a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. The same jury acquitted Weinstein of a similar charge involving former model Kaja Sokola from the same year and deadlocked on a third-degree assault allegation related to actress Jessica Mann in 2013, which prosecutors intend to retry. Farber set a March 3 date for that retrial, punishable by up to four years in prison.

Weinstein, appearing in a wheelchair due to health issues, addressed the judge directly. "I know I was unfaithful, I know I acted wrongly, but I never assaulted anyone," he said. He described his time at Rikers Island as "a march to my death" and expressed fear that he would "die here unseen and unheard," begging for reconsideration...