PA Supreme Court To Hear Bill Cosby Appeal

NORRISTOWN, PA — As the Pennsylvania Supreme Court prepares to review an appeal of Bill Cosby's conviction, prosecutors in Montgomery County doubled down on the case they already made in 2018. Meanwhile, the former comedian's defense team has latched on to what they see as legal holes in the methods used to gain a conviction.

Cosby, convicted of aggravated indecent assault and sentenced to three to 10 years in prison, has had his legal team ceaselessly file motions and appeals ever since the ruling was handed down. The 82-year-old has attempted to use the coronavirus pandemic, institutional racism, and more to justify his release, and all of it no avail until the Pennsylvania Supreme Court finally agreed in June to hear his appeal.

>>Bill Cosby's Appeal Of Conviction Granted By PA Supreme Court

The June order from the court granting Cosby's appeal allows two of the most controversial parts of the Cosby case to be reviewed: the way prosecutors used the testimony of five women who had previously accused Cosby, and the "immunity" deal which Cosby reached with former Montgomery County District Attorney back when the case first surfaced.

"Similarity of the two crimes alone is insufficient to warrant the admission of other-acts evidence," argues the Defender Association of Philadelphia, in a brief filed in support of Cosby's appeal. "The question is not whether there are enough similarities, but whether the similarities demonstrate a pattern so distinct as to conclude that the same person committed both crimes."

Cosby's team argued in June that Constand's case "shared virtually no similarities with the accusers," that the accusers met Cosby under different circumstances, and that the nature of the assaults is dissimilar from the Constand case.

For the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office which prosecuted the original case after some 14 years of back and forth testimonies, investigations, and two trials, nothing has changed from 2018. They point firmly to the law which allows "prior bad act evidence," and cite patterns: alleged victims of Cosby were given pills or drinks to impair them, each victim was in a "mentor-mentee" type relationship with Cosby, and each was alone with Cosby in his home or his hotel room.

“The numerous Cosby lawyers on this case have through their filings—including the last round of filings to the Supreme Court—thoroughly disregarded the facts and compelling evidence presented in court," DA Kevin Steele said in a series of briefs issued late Monday night in support of the conviction.

During the trial, prosecutors sought to have 19 different women testify against Cosby, while Cosby's team wanted there to be none. Judge Steven T. O'Neill compromised and said that five could testify.

The second piece of the appeal is the long-controversial immunity deal. Cosby says that the testimony he gave shortly after this "deal" with then-DA Bruce Castor, where he mentioned quaaludes and many details of the Andrea Constand sexual assault case, could not be used against him in court.

Steele and the prosecution continue to maintain that Castor did not promise "forever non-prosecution."

The DA's Office went on to quote former President John Adams: "Facts are stubborn things and whatever may be our wishes … they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

In addition to the brief filed by the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office, supporting briefs were also filed Monday by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office and the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association. In August, briefs in support of Cosby were filed by the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as well as the Defender Association of Philadelphia.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will examine briefs and arguments from both sides prior to reviewing the case. They have not yet set a date for when their formal hearings will begin.

Cosby has been booked in SCI Phoenix in Montgomery County since Sept. 2018.