Harvey Weinstein's lawyer asks to get dropped from rape trial case

The high profile case which sparked the #MeToo movement is due to begin in September

The case of Harvey Weinstein, which started the #MeToo movement across the world, has reached yet another glitch in the sexual abuse scandal that sent waves across social media.

One of the lawyers representing Harvey Weinstein in his rape trial, due to begin in September, has asked a judge to let him drop the former film producer as a client.

The attorney, Jose Baez, asked a Manhattan justice to let him off the case six months after Weinstein hired him because of their strained relationship, the New York Post reported.

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“Mr. Weinstein has engaged in behavior that makes this representation unreasonably difficult to carry out effectively and has insisted upon taking actions with which I have fundamental disagreements,” Baez wrote to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice James Burke.

Kevin Spacey could face sexual assault trial 

Prosecutors in New York accuse 67-year old Weinstein of sexually abusing on a woman in 2006 and raping another in 2013. He faces five criminal charges, including rape, and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 9.

PHOTO: FILE

More than 70 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, including Charmed star Rose McGowan. He has denied all accusations and said any sexual contact was consensual.

Weinstein hired his lawyer, Baez, as well as Harvard University law professor Ron Sullivan after his former attorney Ben Brafman left the case in January. Sullivan left the case last month after his defense of Weinstein sparked an outcry at Harvard and led to his dismissal from a dean role.

The lawyer previously represented Casey Anthony, a Florida woman found not guilty in 2011 of murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in a high-profile criminal case.

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