American media baron Harvey Weinstein heads for court hearing

American media baron Harvey Weinstein, who has been pelted with several allegations of sexual assault, would be heading for a court hearing on Monday (local time).

The disgraced producer was accused by more than 80 women for various crimes, out of which, 67 blamed him for sexual misconduct.

The Monday hearing would look into five charges of a felony against Weinstein and is scheduled to be held at the New York State Supreme Court, reported the CNN website.

The trial, which is expected to last till March, would be presided by Judge James Burke, who assumed his position as a state criminal court judge in the year 2001.

Burke recently had pre-emptively passed a few rulings in order to ensure Weinstein a free and fair trial.

According to CNN, first among the two accusers in this trial is an unnamed woman who claims that Weinstein raped her in a hotel room back in 2013. Three out of the five charges that make up the case are directly associated with the anonymous woman.

The second accuser, Mimi Haleyi blames Weinstein of forcibly performing oral sex on her at his Manhattan apartment in the year 2006. The two remaining charges are pertaining to Haleyi's allegations.

In an effort to solidify their case, the prosecution has lined up witnesses such as 'Sopranos' actress Annabella Sciorra and forensic psychiatrist Dr Barbara Ziv to testify against the defendant.

From the defendant's corner, Weinstein refused all the allegations of non-consensual sexual activity, though it's still not clear whether he'd personally testify for himself in the court.

Weinstein's legal team intends to defend their client through evidence of emails and text messages that were sent to him by the accusers even after the sexual crimes were allegedly committed. Such subsequent correspondences, the legal team believes, would prove the consensual nature of the sexual encounters.

The Weinstein scandal which has been brewing for the past couple of years has had grave ramifications for the Hollywood mogul's career who, if proven guilty, faces the risk of spending the rest of his life in prison.

( With inputs from ANI )