Weinstein gets new team of four lawyers

Weinstein gets new team of four lawyers

NEW YORK

Harvey Weinstein won a judge’s approval Friday to overhaul the defense team in his rape and sexual assault case, replacing his bulldog New York City attorney with a four-person squad that’s high on courtroom stars and headline-grabbing cases.

The disgraced Hollywood mogul was in a Manhattan courtroom – along with new lawyers Jose Baez, Ronald Sullivan and Duncan Levin, and ex-lawyer Benjamin Brafman – as Judge James Burke signed off on the switch.

Weinstein, 66, and Brafman, 70, announced last week that they had “agreed to part ways amicably.” The move came a month after they lost a hard-fought bid to get the case thrown out.

Asked as he left court if he was happy with his new lawyers, Weinstein responded “absolutely.”

Winstein’s trial is slated for May 6.

Rapper Nelly: Dismiss sex-assault lawsuit

ST. LOUIS

The rapper Nelly is asking a U.S. court to dismiss a British woman’s lawsuit that alleges he sexually assaulted her after a concert in England.

The federal lawsuit was filed in November in St. Louis, the rapper’s hometown. The woman accuses Nelly, whose real name is Cornell Haynes Jr., of assaulting her in a dressing room at the concert venue in Essex in December 2017. Nelly hasn’t been criminally charged and has denied the allegations.

Coroner rules Porter died of pneumonia

LOS ANGELES

Coroner office officials say former model and actress Kim Porter died last year from pneumonia.

The Los Angeles coroner’s office on Friday released the results of its investigation into Porter’s Nov. 15 death. Investigators determined after an autopsy that her death was from natural causes.

The 47-year-old was also a former girlfriend of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ and the pair had three children together. Combs eulogized Porter at her funeral in her hometown of Columbus, Ga. Associated Press