Attorneys for Rose McGowan appeared in a Loudoun County, Virginia, courthouse Monday morning seeking to have a drug charge against the actress and anti-sexual-harassment advocate dismissed. Their motion was denied.
McGowan was accused of cocaine possession after the drug was found in her wallet, which she left on a plane at Dulles International Airport after the Women’s March in January of last year. She says she was unaware there was a warrant out for her arrest until October, when it was publicly reported.
Defense attorney Jessica Carmichael argued that because the wallet was found five hours after McGowan got off the plane, there is no way to prove that the cocaine was hers or that it was ever in her possession in the state of Virginia.
Moreover, Carmichael said in a court filing last month, the court should consider that McGowan has been targeted by Harvey Weinstein after accusing the Hollywood producer of rape. According to news reports, Weinstein hired private investigators who spied on and pretended to befriend McGowan in hopes of discrediting her account.
Weinstein has denied raping McGowan. She claims that the attack occurred 20 years ago and that Weinstein paid her a $100,000 settlement.
A Loudoun County District Court judge on Monday denied the defense motion, calling it “premature.”
Judge Deborah Welsh said the issues raised by McGowan’s attorneys could be revisited at a preliminary hearing March 21.
Paul Ebert, the commonwealth’s attorney for Prince William County, who is handling the case, said the defense motion included “self-serving hearsay” from McGowan herself.
McGowan did not appear in court. She has been in Europe filming her E! documentary series, “Citizen Rose.”
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