Bill Cosby’s sex assault conviction overturned by court – Reno Gazette Journal

MaryClaire Dale| Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA Pennsylvania's highest court overturned Bill Cosby's sex assault conviction Wednesday after finding an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case.

Cosby has served more than two years of a three- to 10-year sentence at a state prison near Philadelphia. He had vowed to serve all 10 years rather than acknowledge any remorse over the 2004 encounter with accuser Andrea Constand.

The 83-year-old Cosby, who was once beloved as "America's Dad," was convicted of drugging and molesting the Temple University employee at his suburban estate.

He was charged in late 2015, when a prosecutor armed with newly unsealed evidence Cosby's damaging deposition from her lawsuit arrested him days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired.

The trial judge had allowed just one other accuser to testify at Cosby's first trial, when the jury deadlocked. However, he then allowed five other accusers to testify at the retrial about their experiences with Cosby in the 1980s.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said that testimony tainted the trial, even though a lower appeals court had found it appropriate to show a signature pattern of drugging and molesting women.

Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era, so the reversal could make prosecutors wary of calling other accusers in similar cases. The law on prior bad act testimony varies by state, though, and the ruling only holds sway in Pennsylvania.

Prosecutors did not immediately say if they would appeal or seek to try Cosby for a third time.

The justices voiced concern not just about sex assault cases, but what they saw as the judiciary's increasing tendency to allow testimony that crosses the line into character attacks. The law allows the testimony only in limited cases, including to show a crime pattern so specific it serves to identify the perpetrator.

In New York, the judge presiding over last year's trial of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose case had sparked the explosion of the #MeToo movement in 2017, let four other accusers testify. Weinstein was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He is now facing separate charges in California.

In Cosby's case, one of his appellate lawyers said prosecutors put on vague evidence about the uncharged conduct, including Cosby's own recollections in his deposition about giving women alcohol or quaaludes before sexual encounters.

"The presumption of innocence just didn't exist for him," Jennifer Bonjean, the lawyer, argued to the court in December.

In May, Cosby was denied paroled after refusing to participate in sex offender programs during his nearly three years in state prison. He has long said he would resist the treatment programs and refuse to acknowledge wrongdoing even if it means serving the full 10-year sentence.

This is the first year he was eligible for parole under the three- to 10-year sentence handed down after his 2018 conviction.

Cosby spokesperson Andrew Wyatt called the parole board decision "appalling."

Prosecutors said Cosby repeatedly used his fame and "family man" persona to manipulate young women, holding himself out as a mentor before betraying them.

Cosby, a groundbreaking Black actor who grew up in public housing in Philadelphia, made a fortune estimated at $400 million during his 50 years in the entertainment industry. His trademark clean comedy and homespun wisdom fueled popular TV shows, books and standup acts.

He fell from favor in his later years as he lectured the Black community about family values, but was attempting a comeback when he was arrested.

"There was a built-in level of trust because of his status in the entertainment industry and because he held himself out as a public moralist," Assistant District Attorney Adrienne Jappe, of suburban Montgomery County, argued to the justices.

Cosby had invited Constand to an estate he owns in Pennsylvania the night she said he drugged and sexually assaulted her.

Constand, a former professional basketball player who worked at his alma mater, went to police a year later. The other accusers knew Cosby through the entertainment industry and did not go to police.

Cosby has a long history with Northern Nevada.

He donated a track to the University of Nevada, Reno, and painted a plate to be auctioned off to raise money for the Northern Nevada affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. He showed up at fundraisers and business openings. He commissioned and donated a bronze bust of casino mogul Bill Harrah.

Three of his accusers say they were assaulted in Reno and at Lake Tahoe.

Cosbys ties to Northern Nevada started with his relationship with Harrah, founder of the Harrahs casino empire. Harrah was often credited with breaking down racial barriers by hosting legendary performers such as Sammy Davis Jr. and Cosby.

He was here a lot because if another performer canceled, he would fill in," Mel Shields, a longtime entertainment writerwho covered Cosby, told the RGJ in 2018, after Cosby was found guilty of assault in Pennsylvania.

Cosby was a frequent guest of Harrah, staying at his homes including Rancharrah. Harrah also had celebrities as frequent guests at his house on Nixon Avenue. Called Interlaken, the house was built in 1967, and was known for being the place where stars stayed when in Reno.

Two of the five accusers in Cosby's retrial allege that they were assaulted in Reno.

Heidi Thomaswas the first to testify at the retrial. She was a 24-year-old music teacher from Colorado who came to Reno to meet with Cosby. She said Cosby forced her to perform oral sex.

Janice Baker-Kinney, a former bartender, said she was drugged and raped at a house party in Reno in 1982.

Former model Janice Dickinson testified that Cosby raped her at a hotel room at Lake Tahoe in 1982.

The three were among 60 women who cameforward with similar allegations.

Siobhan McAndrew of the Reno Gazette Journal contributed to this report.

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Bill Cosby's sex assault conviction overturned by court - Reno Gazette Journal