Neither his health nor charges of faulty paperwork prevented a New York judge from agreeing to extradite disgraced and convicted sex criminal Harvey Weinstein from his New York prison cell back to California for another trial.

Justice Kenneth Case of Erie County Court ruled on June 15 that Weinstein, 69, who is currently serving a 23-year sentence for rape and criminal sexual acts, must return to the home state of his movie studio to face additional allegations by three more women who have charged him with sexual assault in California. Case’s decision puts an end to months of delays by his attorneys.

Arguments against extradition by Weinstein’s attorneys centered on their client’s poor health. Their offer to have him appear in a California court via video was not persuasive. The Erie County prosecutor countered arguments by Weinstein’s attorneys about his medical condition by reporting that he had declined offers of treatment several times. Weinstein’s lawyer said he would appeal the transfer order, charging that it was politically motivated and had been rushed because of his client’s notoriety.

Two months after his conviction in February 2020, lawyers for Weinstein filed a 166-page appeal based on claims of seven errors, including arguments that three women unfairly influenced the jury, the judge disregarded “fundamental principles of New York law and other violations of Weinstein's constitutional rights."

That appeal is pending. If granted, and if it leads to a new trial in New York, a California conviction would keep Weinstein in prison. If the New York appeal is denied and he is convicted in California, he would serve a second sentence after his current incarceration is completed.

California charges against the former studio head and widely-acknowledged impetus for the #MeToo movement, are multiple counts of forcible oral copulation, forcible rape, and other sex crimes involving five different women from 2004 to 2013. He will be held in a Los Angeles County hospital jail until his trial begins.

Weinstein’s troubles began in October 2017 when The New York Times published sexual harassment allegations against him by Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd. They told the newspaper about his promises to advance their careers in return for sexual favors and accused him of forcing massages and watching him naked. He issued an apology, said he was taking a leave of absence from his studio and was seeing a therapist. The Board of Directors of The Weinstein Company fired him the next day.

Allegations from 14 more women, including Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow, followed that month, including three accusations of rape. McGowan said she turned down a $1 million payout in exchange for her silence. Weinstein continued to claim that all sexual interactions were consensual. However, additional actresses and employees of his movie company came forward in America, England, and Canada.

In February 2018, New York state prosecutors filed a lawsuit against The Weinstein Company charging it with failing to protect its employees from harassment and abuse. Weinstein himself was charged with rape and several additional counts of sexual abuse against two women in May. He turned himself in to New York police on May 25 and was released on $1 million in bail the next day after surrendering his passport and agreeing to wear a GPS tracker.

A grand jury indicted him on May 31, and he pled not guilty on June 5. One woman, former actress Lucia Evans, was identified. Charges from a third woman were added, and he pled not guilty to her accusations as well. He moved to dismiss all criminal charges in August. In November and December, charges of assault on a minor were added. Civil lawsuits added up, and the media reported some settlement payments of about $44 million.

Weinstein’s criminal trial began in January 2020. At the same time, Los Angeles County prosecutors charged him with raping one woman and sexually assaulting another. Back in New York, he was found guilty of a criminal sexual act in the first degree and third-degree rape on February 24, while being acquitted of first-degree rape and two counts of predatory sexual assault. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison by Judge James Burk on March 11. He filed an appeal on April 5. That appeal is pending.

Altogether, 90 women have accused him of sexual assaults. During the hearing on the extradition, Weinstein, appearing via a video feed, “looked deflated” according to the BBC. If his latest appeal fails, a transfer to California is expected in mid-July.