Pennsylvania’s highest court on Tuesday said it agreed to hear part of Bill Cosby’s appeal of his 2018 sexual assault conviction.
In December, a panel of three appellate judges unanimously rejected his appeal to the lower Superior Court, upholding his 2018 conviction in the drugging and sexual assault of Andrea Constand at his home outside Philadelphia in 2004.
But in January, his lawyers petitioned the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court to review that decision, highlighting several issues where they said the panel had erred in supporting the trial judge’s decision.
The state’s Supreme Court does not necessarily have to take up an appeal, and its justices typically grant few of them. It rejected some of the issues Mr. Cosby’s lawyer raised, but it said it would review the trial judge’s decision to allow testimony from five other accusers — women who, like Ms. Constand, said Mr. Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted them.
The decision means Mr. Cosby’s lawyers will now have another opportunity to challenge a verdict that represented one of the most high-profile convictions of the #MeToo era.
In particular, it gives them the chance to fight the decision to include the testimony from the so-called “prior bad acts” witnesses, which many experts considered to be one of the most significant moments of the criminal trial.
In Pennsylvania and many other states, testimony concerning prior alleged crimes is allowed if, among other conditions, it demonstrates a signature pattern of abuse. Such testimony by other accusers played a role in the Harvey Weinstein case, where their testimony was sought to demonstrate a pattern of predatory behavior by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Cosby’s lawyers, however, argue that he was denied a fair trial because the allegations by the other women were too remote in time and too dissimilar to the case for which he was being tried.
The court will review whether the jury should have heard testimony about Mr. Cosby’s use of quaaludes as part of his efforts to have sex with other women, including his own testimony in a separate civil case. And it said it would also review the judge’s decision to allow the trial to go ahead even after a former district attorney had given what the district attorney said was a binding assurance that Mr. Cosby would not be charged in the case. The Superior Court panel said that a district attorney did not have the authority to make such a promise.
Mr. Cosby, 82, is serving a three- to 10-year sentence at SCI Phoenix, a maximum-security facility outside Philadelphia.
Ms. Constand reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision, saying it was right that the five other women were heard.
“While everyone deserves for their cries and appeals to be heard, even convicted criminals, if anyone’s cries matter most right now, it’s the women who have lifted their voices and selflessly put themselves in harm’s way, such as the prior bad act witnesses in my case,” she said in an emailed statement.
In a separate statement, Mr. Cosby’s spokesman said, “We’re extremely thankful to the State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania for agreeing to review Mr. Cosby’s appeal.”
The Montgomery County District Attorney’s office said, “We look forward to briefing and arguing these issues and remain confident in the Trial Court and Superior Court’s previous decisions.”
Source: Television - nytimes.com
