Weinstein Is Charged With Rape in Los Angeles

The new criminal complaint was announced in Los Angeles on Monday, just hours after Weinstein, who recently had back surgery, hobbled into a Manhattan courtroom with a walker for the start of his rape trial there.

The Los Angeles County district attorney, Jackie Lacey, said Weinstein had been charged with raping one woman and sexually assaulting another woman in separate incidents over a two-day period in 2013.

He faces up to 28 years in prison if convicted.

In New York City, dozens of protesters gathered outside the state Supreme Court in Manhattan, including several actresses who have accused Weinstein of wrongdoing, holding signs with slogans like “justice for survivors” and “coercion is not consent.”

Inside the courtroom, Justice James M. Burke dealt a blow to Weinstein’s defense, ruling it cannot call as a witness the disgraced detective who was accused of withholding evidence from prosecutors that was favorable to the defense.

Weinstein’s lawyers had hoped to call the detective, Nicholas DiGaudio, as part of an effort to cast doubt on the New York City Police Department investigation of Weinstein.

Jury selection in the trial will begin Tuesday.

Six women are expected to testify about sexual encounters with Weinstein, though the criminal charges hinge on allegations made by two of them.

Weinstein is charged with raping one woman, who has not been identified in court documents, at a Manhattan hotel in March 2013 and forcing a second woman, Mimi Haleyi, a production assistant, to allow him to perform oral sex on her at his apartment in Manhattan in 2006.

He faces one count of rape and one count of criminal sexual act in those cases, and if convicted could be sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison.

Weinstein maintains his sexual encounters with the women were consensual.

The producer also faces a charge of predatory sexual assault for committing a serious sex crime against more than one person. If convicted of that charge, Weinstein faces a maximum of life in prison.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .