US Supreme Court won’t review decision that freed Bill Cosby
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The United States Supreme Court announced Monday without comment that it would not review Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case, leaving him a free man and ending a two-decade legal drama.
The high court — whose nine members include two men accused of sexual misconduct themselves — declined to review a stunning decision out of Pennsylvania that released Cosby from prison in June over the word of a former prosecutor who said he had made a secret promise with Cosby’s lawyers that he could never be charged.
A Cosby spokesperson expressed “sincere gratitude to the justices” on behalf of Cosby and his family for the announcement and said he was the victim of “a reprehensible bait and switch” by the prosecutor and trial judge in the case.
“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 centre stage of the world,” spokesperson Andrew Wyatt said.
The 84-year-old Cosby, according to Wyatt, remains in good health despite being legally blind. He said that “many people are calling for projects for him” and that he is considering a final standup tour.
Accuser Andrea Constand planned to issue a statement later in the day.
District Attorney Kevin Steele in suburban Philadelphia’s Montgomery County said in a statement that asking the high court to revive the case “was the right thing to do,” even if it was a long shot. He thanked Constand for her courage and wished her well.
“All crime victims deserve to be heard, treated with respect and be supported through their day in court,” Steele said.
Steele has said there’s no evidence that Cosby had a legally binding agreement that he could never be prosecuted.
His predecessor, Bruce L. Castor Jr., never put it in writing or told anyone in his office about it.
He never mentioned it in public until new evidence emerged and the case was reopened a decade later.
“A secret agreement that permits a wealthy defendant to buy his way out of a criminal case isn’t right,” Steele argued in court in 2016 as he pressed to send the case to trial.
Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill found Castor’s testimony on the point not credible and sent the case to trial.
However, the state Supreme Court later ruled that whether or not the supposed agreement was legally binding, Cosby relied on it when he gave eye-popping — and potentially incriminating — testimony in a lawsuit later filed by Constand.
“The principle of fundamental fairness that undergirds due process of law in our criminal justice system demands that the promise be enforced,” Justice David N. Wecht wrote last year.