By MICHAEL HILL (Associated Press)

Prosecutors in New York accused Harvey Weinstein’s lead defense lawyer of making public statements intended to intimidate a potential witness ahead of the fallen movie mogul’s retrial and asked a judge to take action.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office sent a letter to the trial judge Thursday criticizing comments made by lawyer Arthur Aidala outside of court on May 1, urging the judge to instruct the defense team “not to make public statements discussing or disparaging potential witnesses in the future.”

New York’s highest court last month threw out Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, ruling that the trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that weren’t part of the case. In that landmark #MeToo trial, Weinstein was convicted of rape in the third degree for an attack on an aspiring actress in 2013 and of forcing himself on a TV and film production assistant, Miriam Haley, in 2006.

Weinstein, 72, has maintained his innocence.

Speaking to reporters about the case after Weinstein’s first court appearance following the decision, Aidala said he believes Haley lied to the jury about her motive in coming forward, which prosecutors refute. He said his team planned an aggressive cross-examination on the issue “if she dares to come and show her face here.”

Haley, who did not attend the court hearing, had said days earlier she was weighing whether to testify again at a retrial.

Aidala declined to comment Friday.

Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg, in the letter to Justice Curtis Farber, said the defense attorney violated state rules of professional conduct and “knowingly disregarded his professional and ethical obligations.”

“The obvious intent of his statements was to intimidate Ms. Haley and chill her cooperation with the retrial of this case,” Blumberg wrote.

Blumberg asked Farber to remind the defense counsel of their ethical obligations regarding out-of-court statements and direct them to stop making public statements about witnesses “that could materially prejudice the case.”

Weinstein’s next court date is Wednesday. At the May 1 hearing, prosecutors asked for a retrial as soon as September. Farber said the trial would take place some time after Labor Day.

Weinstein, who had been serving a 23-year sentence for the Manhattan conviction, was moved from a state prison to city custody after the ruling last month by the state Court of Appeals. He also was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape and is still sentenced to 16 years in prison in California.

Haley said last month at a news conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred, that she did not want to go the trauma of testifying again, “but for the sake of keeping going and doing the right thing and because it is what happened, I would consider it.”

Allred declined comment Friday.

The Associated Press does not generally identify people alleging sexual assault unless they consent to be named, as Haley has.

——

Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed reporting

In typical Harrison Smith fashion, the 12-year veteran safety for the Vikings maintained a rather cryptic tone this past winter while standing inside the visitors locker room at Ford Field in Detroit.

His sweat had barely dried and he was still coming to grips with the fact that the Vikings had missed the playoffs after a 30-20 loss to the Lions in Week 18. He wasn’t interested in talking about his plans for the future, especially when it came to the possibility of retirement.

The only clarity Smith provided was when he emphasized the following: If he indeed decided to retire, there wasn’t going to be formal announcement of any sort. He would simply fade the background. He wasn’t going to bring too much attention to himself.

After taking a couple of months to think about it, Smith ultimately agreed to restructure his contract, ensuring that he would remain with the Vikings moving forward. The time away was important for Smith. He got to spend a lot of quality time with his wife, Madison, and their children, Eleanor and Pierce, and even personally helped with the remodeling of his home in Knoxville, Tenn.

“I was completely living life like I wasn’t a football player,” Smith said. “It’s a good weight off my mind to kind of reset and come back around to it.”

Now that Smith, 35, is back in the mix, he’s confident he can still be an impactful player.

“I still feel good,” he said. “I still feel like I can play at a high level.”

It helps that Smith developed a close relationship with defensive coordinator Brian Flores while getting to work with him on a daily basis. Though he’s more than a decade into his career, Smith went out of his way to note how much he has learned from Flores. They seem to speak the same language when they’re out there together.

“It’s been awesome,” Smith said. “I learned a lot of things last year that I was never really introduced to throughout my career.”

As much as Smith has connected with Flores on the field, he has also connected with him off the field.

“There’s a lot to be learned from him beyond football,” Smith said. “As I’ve gotten a few more years under my belt, I’ve grown to appreciate those things. Just how to carry myself as a man and as a husband and as a father. Those things carry over to football.”

There seemed to be a genuine excitement from Smith this week as he returned to the Twin Cities for organized team activities. He looked reinvigorated and ready to attack whatever gets thrown at him. Even questions about the possibility of this year being his farewell tour.

“I don’t know,” Smith said. “I just kind of take it day by day thinking about what I’m doing on the field and how I can get better at that. That kind of simplifies it and it really lets me enjoy the moment more than like saying, ‘Oh, this is my last one.’ That’s not really my style.”

It never has been. It never will be.

Related Articles

Veteran Sam Darnold arrives at OTAs in line to be Vikings starting quarterback

Vikings sign veteran tight end Robert Tonyan

Here’s a look at the Vikings schedule with a breakdown of each game

Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy has been preparing for this moment

Five players to keep an eye on at Vikings rookie minicamp