Bill Cosby to be freed from prison after court tosses sexual assault conviction (updated)
30/06/2021 18:09
(Adds reaction to ruling, background on case)
By Joseph Ax and Jonathan Stempel
June 30 (Reuters) - Pennsylvania's highest court on
Wednesday overturned Bill Cosby's sexual assault conviction and
ordered him freed from prison immediately, saying he never
should have faced charges after striking a non-prosecution deal
with a previous district attorney more than 15 years ago.
The split decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court came
after Cosby had served more than two years of a potential three-
to 10-year sentence in a state prison following his 2018
conviction.
Cosby, 83, could be released as soon as Wednesday afternoon
from a state correctional facility in Shippack, Pennsylvania.
The comedian and actor was best known for his role as the
lovable husband and father in the 1980s television comedy series
"The Cosby Show," earning him the nickname "America's Dad."
But his family-friendly reputation was shattered after
dozens of women accused him of sexual assault over a period of
decades. His conviction was widely seen as a watershed moment in
the #MeToo movement that brought forth an array of allegations
against powerful men in Hollywood and beyond.
Cosby was found guilty of sexually assaulting Andrea
Constand, an employee at his alma mater Temple University, in
his home in 2004 after drugging her with unidentified pills.
Constand's allegations were the only ones against Cosby that
were not too old to allow for criminal charges.
Reaction was swift on social media, with many women involved
in the #MeToo movement expressing horror at the decision.
"THIS is why women do not come forward," writer E. Jean
Carroll, who has accused former President Donald Trump of raping
her decades ago, wrote on Twitter. Trump has denied her claim.
But Phylicia Rashad, Cosby's co-star on "The Cosby Show,"
celebrated the ruling for correcting "a miscarriage of justice."
Montgomery County district attorney's office and Cosby's
spokesperson both did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
The court's majority found that a state prosecutor, Bruce
Castor, had struck a deal with Cosby's attorneys in 2005 not to
bring criminal charges.
As a result, Cosby was unable to avoid testifying as part of
a civil lawsuit that Constand brought against him, since
defendants can only refuse to testify when faced with criminal
prosecution.
In a sworn deposition, Cosby acknowledged giving women
sedatives to facilitate sexual encounters, though he maintained
they were consensual.
His admissions, which a judge later unsealed in 2015, helped
form the basis for criminal charges later that year, when a
newly elected district attorney, Kevin Steele, charged Cosby
just days before the statute of limitations was set to expire.
The prosecution, the court found, essentially amounted to
reneging on Castor's earlier promise not to charge Cosby.
"In light of these circumstances, the subsequent decision by
successor D.A.s to prosecute Cosby violated Cosby's due process
rights," Justice David Wecht wrote for a four-judge majority.
"There is only one remedy that can completely restore Cosby to
the status quo ante. He must be discharged, and any future
prosecution on these particular charges must be barred."
One dissenting justice said Cosby should stay in prison,
while two others said it was wrong to bar prosecutors from
retrying him, though without relying on the tainted evidence.
"So drastic a step merely increases to an intolerable degree
interference with the public interest in having the guilty
brought to book," Associate Justice Kevin Dougherty wrote.
A mid-level appeals court had said the deposition testimony
was admissible to illustrate Cosby's "unique sexual assault
playbook" for drugging and assaulting women.
Wecht, however, said Cosby was forced to give that testimony
only after Castor said he would not be prosecuted for it, and a
retrial even without that testimony could not restore the rights
Cosby gave up by having to testify against himself.
Castor made national headlines in February as a member of
former President Donald Trump's legal defense team during
Trump's impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate. The former
prosecutor delivered a rambling opening statement that drew
sharp criticism from several senators, including Republican
supporters of Trump.
Cosby's first trial ended with a hung jury in 2017, when
jurors could not reach a unanimous decision on his culpability.
But he was found guilty at a second trial, after the judge,
Steven O'Neill, allowed prosecutors to call five prior accusers
- four more than in the first trial.
Armed with those witnesses, prosecutors argued that Cosby's
assault of Constand was a well-rehearsed offense he had honed
over decades: he befriended younger women, acting as a mentor,
only to sexually assault them, often with the help of drugs.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax in Princeton, New Jersey and Jonathan
Stempel in New York
Editing by Alistair Bell)
((jon.stempel@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 6317; Reuters
Messaging: jon.stempel.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))