Washington – The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request from Pennsylvania prosecutors to review a decision of the state supreme court this overturned Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction, leaving intact the Pennsylvania High Court’s sentence that he was released from prison.
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, prosecutors have asked the courts to investigate Cosby’s case. in November and argued that the state Supreme Court’s June decision sets a “dangerous precedent” that is tense with federal and state cases. The country’s highest court, however, rejected his attempt to reinstate Cosby’s conviction and, as usual, did not explain his decision not to hear the case.
A Cosby spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, called the Supreme Court’s decision a “victory” for the former comedian and actor.
“On behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Cosby and the Cosby family, we would like to offer our sincere thanks to the judges of the United States Supreme Court for following the rules of law and protecting the constitutional rights of all American citizens. of these United States. States, “he said in a statement.
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court decision to overturn Cosby’s sexual assault conviction in 2018 was based on a press release issued more than a decade earlier by Bruce Castor, then acting as the county district attorney. of Montgomery. Castor was in charge of investigating the criminal complaint against Cosby filed by Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee who said Cosby sexually assaulted her in her home in 2004.
In the press release, Castor said he decided not to prosecute Cosby, as “in the circumstances of this case,” a conviction would be “unreachable.”
Constand filed civil charges against Cosby, and in statements in 2005 and 2006, Cosby testified that he gave Constand Benadryl pills on the night of the assault. He also admitted to having access to Quaaludes and stated that he gave the pills to women before sexual encounters.
Cosby’s statements were made public in July 2015, and the new Montgomery County District Attorney reopened the investigation and finally charged Cosby. He decided to dismiss the charges, arguing that Castor, the former prosecutor, had pledged never to prosecute him.
Cosby was then convicted of three counts of assault on modesty and sentenced to three to ten years in prison.
After the conviction was upheld by the Pennsylvania High Court, Cosby appealed to the state Supreme Court. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in Cosby’s favor in June, finding that it was based on Castor’s press release as a grant of permanent immunity. Castor’s decision not to prosecute Cosby “was not conditioned in any way, form or form,” the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found.
Cosby was released from prison last summer following a state high court ruling.
Zoe Christen Jones contributed to this report.
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