NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Comedian Bill Cosby has won the right to fight his 2018 sexual assault conviction before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The 82-year-old Cosby has been imprisoned in suburban Philadelphia for nearly two years after a jury convicted him of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004. He’s serving a three- to 10-year sentence.
The Supreme Court has agreed to review two aspects of the case that Cosby’s lawyers challenge.
The first involves the judge’s decision to let prosecutors call five other accusers. And the court will examine Cosby’s argument that he had an agreement with a former prosecutor that he’d never be charged.
Cosby's accuser, Andrea Constand, now the director of Hope Healing and Transformation, issued the following statement in response to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision:
“I respectfully ask the Supreme Court of PA to consider the enormous prospect of putting my perpetrator back into the community after being labeled a convicted sexually violent predator. While everyone deserves for their cries and appeals to be heard, even convicted criminals, if anyone’s cries matter most right now, it’s the women who have lifted their voices and selflessly put themselves in harms way, such as the prior bad act witnesses in my case. They are the true heroes. Regardless of our national heritage, colour, creed or identity, we all deserve justice - that is a fact.
"I have no doubt that the Supreme Court will do the right thing and not allow Cosby's wealth, fame and fortune to win an escape from his malignant and downright criminal past and seek justice at all costs.”
Jennifer Storm, Acting Commonwealth Victim Advocate, also joined Constand in issuing a statement:
“The survivors in this case deserved to be heard in that courtroom. Case law allows the admission of their truths as a means to provide an overall understanding of Cosby’s pattern of abuse. Allowing prior bad act witnesses is vital in sexual assault cases, particularly with regard to sexually violent predators. In this case, as is true in far too many, victims have been forced into silence for so long that their statutes of limitations have expired - but the truth of the harm done never expires. The courts need to be able to consider all facts."
