Bill Cosby has often claimed that he was wronged by a Pennsylvania judge after he was convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault in 2018.
Cosby will now get to appeal two crucial elements of the conviction, which Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court announced on Tuesday, June, 23. The disgraced comedian was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple University worker Andrea Constand.
His legal team will now be able to appeal testimony given by “prior bad act” witnesses during his criminal trial, which prosecutors said at the time was crucial to establish a behavioral pattern.
His lawyers can also appeal the decision to allow his 2005 deposition from his civil trial to be used in the case.
During Cosby’s second criminal trial, Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill allowed supermodel Janice Dickinson and four other women to testify that Cosby sexually assaulted them after giving them a substance. The comedian was also tried criminally in 2017, which resulted in a hung jury.
In that 2005 deposition, Cosby admitted that he gave Quaaludes to women for sex and reportedly made that admission only because former district attorney Bruce Castor vowed that he wouldn’t bring criminal charges against him.
Cosby’s spokesman Andrew Wyatt responded to the Supreme Court’s decision and connected it to the continued protests for racial justice that have been happening since May.
“America and the world is witnessing the 23rd day of protests regarding the abuse and murder of Black people, not just at the hands of corrupt police officers but these extremely vital and important protests are exposing the corruption that lies within the criminal justice system,” he said.
“As we have all stated, the false conviction of Bill Cosby is so much bigger than him. It’s about the destruction of all Black people and people of color in America,” Wyatt added.
Constand also released a statement and told Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court not to be influenced by Cosby’s money and celebrity.
“I have no doubt that the Supreme Court of PA will do the right thing and not allow Cosby’s wealth, fame and fortune to win an escape from his maleficent, malignant and downright criminal past and seek justice at all costs,” she stated.
Shortly after Cosby was sentenced in 2018, Constand gave her first interview about the assault and said it took place at Cosby’s home in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. She was an operations manager for Temple University’s women’s basketball team then and viewed Cosby as a mentor.
She said during the visit, Cosby offered her three blue pills that took away her ability to walk and talk, and she was sexually assaulted on a sofa.
Cosby is now serving a 3-to-10-year sentence at SCI Phoenix about 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia.
His wife, Camille Cosby, issued a statement after the appeal decision came down and blasted the MeToo movement.
“The #MeToo movement and movements like them have intentional ignorance pertaining to the history of particular white women who have — from the very beginning — accused Black males of sexual assault without any proof whatsoever, no proof, anywhere on the face of the earth.”
Cosby’s conviction was upheld last year by the Superior Court of Pennsylvania after he claimed he’d received an unfair trial.
