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HomeUK NewsPennsylvania Supreme Court overturns Bill Cosby's sexual assault conviction

Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturns Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction


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After the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the conviction of sexual assault, the sick Cosby was released from prison.

The state Supreme Court said on Wednesday that the prosecutor who brought the case was bound by his predecessor’s consent not to prosecute Cosby.

Cosby served more than two years in a nearby state prison, with sentences ranging from 3 to 10 years. PhiladelphiaHe vowed to serve for a full 10 years, rather than admitting any remorse for the 2004 meeting with the plaintiff Andre Constant.

The 83-year-old Cosby, once known as “American Dad”, was sentenced for drug abuse and molesting Temple University Staff In his suburban manor.

He was charged at the end of 2015, when a prosecutor holding newly opened evidence-Cosby’s destructive testimony in the lawsuit-arrested him a few days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired.

When the jury reached a deadlock, the trial judge only allowed the other plaintiff to testify in Cosby’s first trial. However, he subsequently allowed the other five accusers to testify about their experience with Cosby in the 1980s during the retrial.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court stated that the testimony tainted the trial, even though the lower appellate court deemed it appropriate to display the iconic patterns of drug use and molestation of women.

Reuters

Cosby was the first celebrity to be tried and convicted in the MeToo era, so this reversal may make prosecutors cautious about calling other accusers in similar cases. However, the law regarding previous bad behavior testimony varies from state to state, and the ruling is only valid in Pennsylvania.

Prosecutors did not immediately state whether they would appeal or seek a third trial of Cosby.

The judges not only expressed their concerns about sexual assault cases, but also believed that the judiciary is increasingly inclined to allow cross-border testimony to become a character attack. The law only allows testimony to be given in limited circumstances, including showing that the crime pattern is so specific to identify the perpetrator.

In New York, the judge who tried film mogul Harvey Weinstein last year asked four other accusers to testify, and his case sparked the outbreak of the MeToo movement in 2017. Weinstein was found guilty and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He is now facing separate charges in California.



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