Bill Cosby: Supreme Court refuses to revive Pennsylvania sexual assault convictions

Cosby was convicted of aggravated indecent assault in 2018 for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his Pennsylvania home in 2004. He was sentenced to three to ten years in prison.

He was released from prison in June after the state Supreme Court Overturning his sexual assault conviction on the grounds that his due process rights have been violated. Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices said in their opinion that the former Montgomery County attorney’s decision not to sue Cosby in 2005 in exchange for his testimony in a civil case was ultimately used against him at trial.

In a statement on behalf of Cosby and his family, journalist Andrew White praised the judges for “following the rules of law and protecting the constitutional rights of all American citizens.”

“Mr. Cosby’s constitutional rights were a ‘reprehensible bait’ by Kevin Steele, Judge Steve T. O’Neill and their colleagues,” Wyatt said. “This is truly a victory for Mr. Cosby, but it shows that cheating won’t get you very far in life, and the corruption that lurks in the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office has been brought to center stage in the world.”

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, which led the high-profile lawsuit against Cosby, said in November that the main question of the appeal centers around the Fourteenth Amendment and the right to a fair trial.

“The question before the Court is: ‘When a plaintiff publicly declares that he will not bring criminal charges based on a lack of evidence, does the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment turn that declaration into a binding undertaking that no charges will ever be brought and a promise upon which the target can count as if it were a grant for immunity?” Version States.

Now in place, Attorney General Kevin Steele said it could have “far-reaching negative consequences” across the country.

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On Monday, judges dismissed the petition to hear the case without comment.

Cosby’s attorney, Jennifer Bunjian, urged the court not to intervene.

“Upon the unique facts of the case, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court concluded that [the former district attorney] He made an unconditional promise of non-prosecution, and that Cosby relied on that promise at his expense, i.e. waiving Fifth Amendment guarantees and testifying in four days of affidavits, and that, in fundamental fairness, the promise must be carried out she said.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Taylor Romain contributed to this report.

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