Arthur Aidala, the three-piece-suit-wearing New York lawyer who represents the now-convicted Harvey Weinstein, says his client is doing as well as he could be while recovering at Bellevue Hospital Center.
Weinstein, who was convicted on Monday of two felonies, is eventually ticketed for the infirmary unit at the Rikers Island prison, but has been at Bellevue since Monday after suffering from heart palpitations and high blood pressure.
Weinstein will remain at the hospital, which has been staked out by local media, until the facility’s doctor allow his release.
“The Bellevue doctors will make those decisions based on their medical expertise,” Aidala told The Hollywood Reporter. “He’s feeling OK. He wouldn’t be there if he was the picture of health. He didn’t ask to go there. None of his lawyers asked for him to go there. It was a New York City Department of Corrections decision, that that was the most suitable place for a 67-year-old man with a laundry list of illnesses who went from being in a walker to being in a wheelchair.”
Aidala visited Weinstein in the hospital on Tuesday and said he’s scheduled to visit him again on Friday.
The lawyer spoke on the phone with the former movie mogul on Thursday morning. “He was the Harvey that I know,” said Aidala. “He asked a lot of relevant questions about what’s happening, what the next steps are. He gave some directions about how to proceed. I needed some directions on how to proceed. He just was looking forward to my visit tomorrow so we can go over things face-to-face in more detail.”
Weinstein’s team is awaiting his sentencing on March 11. He will formally appeal the verdict after his sentencing.
Asked about Monday’s partial guilty verdict and whether Weinstein’s defense team wishes they would have done anything differently, Aidala said, “I think any time a case ends and your client is not going home to sleep in his own bed, you can always second-guess yourself and you can always second-guess your strategy. But what I will say on behalf of all of us is: The effort could not have been any greater. We all rolled up our sleeves and did everything that could be done, needed to be done and should be done.”
Weinstein’s legal team was “relieved” when the jury cleared him of two predatory sexual assault charges, but was “equally disappointed” when the disgraced film mogul was convicted on a first-degree criminal sexual act charge and a third-degree rape charge,” Aidala said.
The 12 men and women of the Weinstein jury have been reticent to speak to the press, as is their right, but Juror No. 2 told Inside Edition that “tensions were very high” during the deliberations. “The temperature in the room was very high,” she added.
“We’re all very curious to see what the jurors say,” Aidala told THR. “We believe that there was some sort of negotiation among the jury to reach the verdict to find him not guilty of certain things and to find him guilty of certain things.”
Weinstein will eventually also face trial in Los Angeles County on four sexual assault charges, but Aidala said he doesn’t think he’ll be part of the legal team.
Asked the same question by a Fox News anchor on Monday night, Weinstein lawyer Donna Rotunno said she’s not sure if she will be involved in the L.A. case.
