A Pennsylvania District Attorney has filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court to restore actor Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction, according to an Associated Press report.
Cosby, who was accused by around 60 women of various instances of sexual abuse, was charged with the sexual assault of Andrea Constand in 2004, and convicted in 2018. The decision was considered a big win for the #MeToo movement. However, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned 84-year-old Cosby’s conviction earlier this year citing “insufficient credible and admissible evidence.”
In the petition released on Monday, Montgomery County DA Kevin Steele has now urged the apex court to reinstate the conviction of the actor. Stating that the current decision “will have far-reaching negative consequences beyond Montgomery County and Pennsylvania,” Steele noted that the US Supreme Court can “right what we believe is a grievous wrong.”
Constand, a former basketball player and an employee at Temple University, accused Cosby of drugging and raping her at his Cheltenham home, in Philadelphia, in 2004. She first filed a complaint with the police in 2005.
The then DA, Bruce Castor declined to prosecute the actor-comedian due to lack of evidence and recommended filing a civil suit instead. This civil suit was settled in 2006 with $3.38 million paid as damages to Constand.
However, criminal charges were eventually filed against Cosby in 2015 based on revelations made during a 2005 deposition, and the actor was convicted in 2018.
In its decision overturning the conviction, dated June 30, 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had concluded that unless Cosby confessed, “there was insufficient credible and admissible evidence upon which any charge against Mr Cosby related to the Constand incident could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The court found that Castor had promised Cosby’s lawyers that he would not face criminal charges, and so there was a “process violation” in his trial.
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Steele’s petition points out that the only written evidence of such a promise is a 2005 press release from Castor. It argues that overturning of the conviction on the aforementioned ground will thus create a dangerous precedent by giving a press release the legal weight of an immunity agreement.
Reacting to the appeal, Cosby’s spokesperson said in a statement, “This is a pathetic last-ditch effort that will not prevail. The Montgomery County DA’s fixation with Mr Cosby is troubling to say the least.”
However, the jury foreperson at Cosby’s retrial, Cheryl Carmel, said she was glad to see Steele ask for the review.
“I firmly believe that what we decided was correct, or else I wouldn’t have made that decision… with the group. Having it overturned because of something that was outside of the facts of what we were given is disappointing,” Carmel told The AP on Monday.