Supreme Court won’t review Bill Cosby’s release

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Monday without comment that it will not hear Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case, leaving him a free man and ending a two-decade legal drama that has reshaped the cultural landscape, ruining the black actor’s groundbreaking reputation. and sent him to prison for several years in the late 70s.

The High Court, whose nine members include two men accused of sexual harassment, refused to review Pennsylvania’s stunning decision to release Cosby from prison in June over the words of a former prosecutor who said he made a secret promise to Cosby’s lawyers. that he can never be blamed.

Cosby’s spokesman expressed “sincere thanks to the judges” on behalf of Cosby and his family for the announcement and said he was the victim of “reprehensible bait” by the prosecutor and trial judge in the case.

“This is indeed a victory for Mr. Cosby, but it shows that fraud will never get you very far in life, and the corruption that lies at the Montgomery County Attorney’s office has been brought to the center stage of the world,” spokesman Andrew Wyatt said. said.

Cosby, 84, remains in good health despite being legally blind, according to Wyatt. He said that “a lot of people invite him on projects” and that he is thinking about a final stand-up tour.

Prosecutor Andrea Constand planned to issue a statement later that day.

Montgomery County District Attorney in suburban Philadelphia Kevin Steele said in a statement that asking the Supreme Court to reopen the case “was the right decision,” even if it was a long journey. He thanked Constand for her courage and wished her all the best.

“All victims of crime deserve to be heard, treated with respect and supported throughout the day in court,” Steele said.

Steele said there was no evidence that Cosby had a legally binding agreement that he could never be held liable.

His predecessor, Bruce L. Castor, Jr., never wrote about it or told anyone in his office about it. He never mentioned it publicly until new evidence emerged and the case was reopened ten years later.

“A secret agreement that allows a wealthy defendant to pay off a criminal case is wrong,” Steele told the court in 2016, pushing for the case to go to trial.

Montgomery County Judge Stephen O’Neill found Castor’s testimony on the matter unreliable and sent the case to trial. However, the state Supreme Court later ruled that whether or not the alleged agreement was legally binding, Cosby relied on it to testify in a lawsuit later filed by Constand that was eye-popping — and potentially incriminating — evidence.

“The principle of fundamental justice that underpins due process in our criminal justice system requires that this promise be kept,” Judge David N. Vecht wrote last year.

During his testimony, the seemingly free Cosby gave lengthy, stream-of-consciousness responses to questions from Constand’s lawyers. He detailed his sexual relationships with a number of young women, some of whom were still teenagers, over the years. And he remembered giving some of them, including Constanda, alcohol or pills while he was sober.

“I can’t hear her say anything. And I don’t feel like she’s saying anything. So, I go ahead and enter an area that is somewhere between allow and deny. I can’t be stopped,” Cosby said in a 2006 deposition, describing a sexual encounter that occurred after he gave her three stress pills that she said knocked her out.

He was arrested in the Konstand case on December 30, 2015, just days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired. Steele reopened the case after the Associated Press went to federal court to uncover Cosby’s long-buried testimony in Constand’s trial.

Cosby, after four days of testimony, paid her $3.4 million to settle the case.

He appeared in court in a criminal case in June 2017. The jury failed to reach a verdict. Less than a year later — following media reports of media mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse of women by the #MeToo movement — Cosby was convicted by a second jury of drug use and molestation of Constand.

The AP generally does not identify people who say they have been victims of sexual assault unless they give permission to do so. Constant did just that.

Dozens of women have said that Cosby also raped them, but Constand is the only one that led to the arrest. His insurance company, against Cosby’s wishes, settled a lawsuit in Massachusetts involving seven accusers for an undisclosed amount following a 2018 conviction. At least two more lawsuits against the actor are pending.

Castor, who said he made a deal with Cosby, later represented former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial, in which Trump was acquitted of instigating a violent mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6.

Castor said he refused to arrest Cosby in 2005, in part because of his belief that both sides “could not be put in the best light.” Constand later sued Castor for libel and secured a settlement from him. Castor filed a counterclaim against Constand, but the judge dismissed it.

___

Follow Maryclairedale on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Maryclairedale