Prosecutors in the case against Bill Cosby asked the Supreme Court on Monday to review the decision to overturn the conviction of sexual assault against him because it was ruled out of a dubious settlement behind closed doors.
Cosby, 84, was the first celebrity convicted of sexual assault in the #MeToo era when a jury found him guilty in 2018 of drugging and sexually abusing Andrea Constand, a college sports administrator in 2004.
But this was only
one trial among the 35 women
who have denounced Cosby over the decades to no avail.
Bill Cosby was supposed to serve up to 10 years in prison for drugging and sexually abusing a woman, but was released from prison in June after his sentence was overturned. Matt Rourke / AP
Cosby, who made a career as an actor and comedian, was due to serve 10 years in prison, but served
less than three years behind bars
before being released last June after his attorneys won an appeal in Pennsylvania Superior Court.
They argued that Cosby incriminated himself because he believed he would not be prosecuted.
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His defenders say he
relied on a promise that charges would never be brought against him
when he gave detrimental testimony in a 2006 civil lawsuit. Subsequently, what he admitted was used against him in two criminal trials.
But prosecutors in the case, who have gathered other evidence against him, say the alleged settlement does not give him lifetime immunity and even
doubt that it ever existed at all
.
Investigators warn that overturning Cosby's conviction is a
dangerous precedent
.
Weeks after Cosby was released from his conviction, for instance, the state attorney general dismissed charges against a jail guard accused of sexually abusing female inmates, due to an earlier agreement with county prosecutors that allowed him to resign instead. to face an accusation.
“This decision, as it stands, will have far-reaching negative consequences beyond Montgomery County and Pennsylvania.
The US Supreme Court can
correct what we believe to be a grave error,
”wrote Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele in the petition seeking a review under the due process clause of the Constitution.
A supposed agreement that left almost no traces
The only written evidence of the promise is
a 2005 press release
from then-prosecutor Bruce Castor, who said he did not have sufficient evidence to arrest Cosby.
Why was Bill Cosby's conviction for sex crimes overturned?
July 1, 202101: 48
The statement included an ambiguous "warning" that the prosecutor would reconsider the decision "if necessary."
Since then, the parties have spent years debating what that meant.
However, defense attorneys say the case should never have gone to trial because of what they call a "non-prosecution agreement."
Appellate judges have expressed very different opinions on the Cosby case.
An intermediate state court upheld the conviction.
Then the seven Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices wrote three separate opinions on it.
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Most indicated that Cosby relied on a promise that he would not be prosecuted when he
admitted to giving drugs and alcohol to a number of young women
before having sexual encounters with them.
The court did not conclude that such an agreement existed, but said Cosby thought so, and that that trust, they said, harmed himself.
This is how Bill Cosby reacted on his social networks after leaving prison
July 1, 202101: 39
But prosecutors say that conclusion is wrong.
They note that Cosby's attorneys strongly objected to the questions asked during his deposition rather than letting him speak freely.
The former prosecutor never mentioned the alleged agreement to senior assistant Risa Ferman, who led the investigation.
Later, she became a district attorney and reopened the case in 2015, finally taking it to trial.
A historic moment in #MeToo
Cosby created
The
Cosby Show
, a very popular show during the 1980s.
Later, a spate of sexual abuse allegations against him destroyed his false image as
"the father of America"
and led to multi-million dollar court settlements with at least eight women.
But the court case for Constand was the only one that led to criminal charges.
The new prosecutor's attempt to revive the case has little chance of progress.
The US Supreme Court
accepts less than 1% of the petitions it receives
.
However, legal academics and victim advocates will be watching closely to see if the court is interested in a high-profile #MeToo case.
Two court judges, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, were charged with sexual misconduct during their Senate confirmation hearings.
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In a recent account shared, Constand said
the verdict is less important than the growing support
that has been given to survivors of sexual assault from the #MeToo movement.
[The Government investigates cases of physical and sexual abuse in juvenile detention centers in Texas]
“The outcome of the trial seemed strangely unimportant.
It was as if the world had changed, and in a much more significant way,
”Constand wrote in the book,
The Moment
.
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