Pennsylvania’s highest court has decided to give Bill Cosby another chance, about 6 months after his initial appeal request was denied.
According to CBS Philadelphia, the court granted the 82-year-old an opportunity to appeal his 2018 sexual assault conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004.
Back in December, the appellate panel in a lower Pennsylvania court rejected his appeal request, in which his legal team argued that five additional witnesses shouldn’t have been allowed to testify in the 2018 trial and argued the “prior bad acts” testimony references were too dissimilar to Constand’s sexual assault allegation from 2004.
CBS Philly adds:
The Supreme Court agreed to review several aspects of the 2018 trial, including whether the jury should have heard Cosby’s own testimony about the use of quaaludes as it stemmed from a separate civil case where Cosby’s lawyers have argued their client was promised criminal immunity.
The state’s highest court will also consider whether the testimony of five other accusers should have been allowed when Cosby was solely on trial for the drugging and sexual assault of Constand.
The morning following the decision, Constand posted her statement in response to the decision on Twitter.
“While everyone deserves 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 have selflessly put themselves in harm’s way, such as prior bad act witnesses in my case,” she tweeted.
“As we have all stated, the false conviction of Bill Cosby is so much bigger than him—it’s about the destruction of ALL Black people and people of color in America. We’re extremely thankful to our attorneys (Brain Perry, Jennifer Bonjean & Barbara Zemlock) for their tenacious efforts in fighting for the vindication of Mr. Cosby,” Cosby’s legal team released in their own statement.
Cosby is currently serving a 3 to 10-year sentence in prison and has served nearly 2 years of the sentence.