Bill Cosby avoided renewed legal jeopardy on Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a bid by prosecutors to undo last year’s ruling in Pennsylvania that overturned the 84-year-old actor and comedian’s 2018 sexual assault conviction.
via: NBC News
The high court on Monday declined a request from prosecutors to hear the case and reinstate the conviction.
Andrew Wyatt, a spokesperson for Bill Cosby, called the Monday decision “a victory.”
“On behalf of Mr. & Mrs. Cosby and the Cosby family, we would like to offer our sincere gratitude to the justices 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,” he said.
“This is truly a victory for Mr. Cosby but it shows that cheating will never get you far in life and the corruption that lies within Montgomery County District’s Attorney Office has been brought to the center stage of the world. Thank you very much,” he continued.
Cosby was convicted on three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault in 2018 of drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004.
He had served nearly three years of a three- to 10-year sentence when his conviction was tossed over a violation of his due process rights. A former Montgomery County district attorney said he would not prosecute Cosby in 2005 in return for his testimony. However, that testimony was later used against him at trial.
The prosecution of Cosby, now 84, was one of the first major milestones of the #MeToo movement in which women came forward with claims of unwanted sexual advances and harassment in the workplace, particularly against powerful men.
When Cosby was released from prison, he tweeted a statement maintaining his innocence.
“I have never changed my stance nor my story. I have always maintained my innocence. Thank you to all my fans, supporters and friends who stood by me through this ordeal. Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for upholding the rule of law,” he said at the time.
Cosby’s first trial ended with a hung jury in 2017, when jurors could not reach a unanimous decision on his culpability. He was convicted at a second trial after the judge let prosecutors call as witnesses five prior accusers – four more than in the first trial.
