Harvey Weinstein begs to get out of his 'hell hole' to judge in NYC

NEW YORK -- A wheelchair-bound Harvey Weinstein begged a New York judge on Wednesday to put him on trial earlier than planned because he isn't sure he will live until the spring while incarcerated in the "hell hole" that he said is the New York City jail complex.

"Every day I'm at Rikers Island it's a mystery to me how I'm still walking," Weinstein told the court while seated in a wheelchair. "I'm asking and begging you your honor. I can't hold on anymore. I'm holding on because I want justice for myself and I want this to be over with."

Weinstein is scheduled to stand trial April 15. Judge Curtis Farber said he could not make it earlier because he is scheduled to preside over a murder trial that is "set in stone." Weinstein persisted.

"I beg you to switch your case and do so out of clemency," Weinstein said. "I don't know how much longer I can hold on."

Weinstein complained the conditions he is subjected to in jail are complicating his medical issues, calling Rikers "a medieval situation."

"I'm begging the court to move your date so we can have that date instead and proceed with this trial as quickly as we can and get out of this hell hole," Weinstein said.

The disgraced film producer asked to start the trial even a bit earlier, April 7, because, he said, "every week counts." Farber said he would consider it.

"If the lawyers report to me they can do it sooner then I'll make myself available," Farber said.

Farber on Wednesday denied Weinstein's bid to dismiss a new sexual assault charge from a woman who alleged Weinstein forced oral sex in a Manhattan hotel in 2006. Weinstein argued prosecutors unduly delayed charging him.

"The application to dismiss denied," Farber said. "The court has inspected the grand jury minutes and found them to be sufficient."

Weinstein will stand trial on the new sexual assault charge at the same time he is re-tried on two other sexual assault charges after an earlier conviction was overturned on appeal.