Bill Cosby Asks Supreme Court To Reject Appeal To Reopen Sexual Assault Case

After his sexual assault conviction against Andrea Constand was vacated in 2021, lawyers for Bill Cosby are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reject an attempt by a Pennsylvania prosecutor to have the case looked at again.

“The narrowly tailored decision of the Cosby court is not at odds with any other cases and is so factually unique that it fails to present any question that is likely to arise in the future with any regularity,” Attorneys for Cosby argued in a court filing submitted Monday.

Cosby was imprisoned from 2018 to June 2021, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the way Cosby was asked to provide evidence violated his due process rights. The Montgomery County, Pennsylvania District Attorney submitted an appeal to the ruling in November.

The conflict arose from a promise made by the Montgomery County DA in 2005, Bruce Castor. Castor promised not to charge Cosby if he agreed to testify in a civil suit brought by Constand, because at the time it was determined that there was insufficient evidence to convict him.

Later, Castor’s successor, Risa Vetri Ferman, ignored the promise and filed charges against Cosby anyway, even using his testimony from the civil suit to secure the verdict. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court thus decided that not honoring Castor’s promise would be “an affront to fundamental fairness.”

The new Montgomery County DA, Kevin Steele, who penned the petition to appeal the case, argued that a determination by one previous DA to not prosecute does not legally amount to “immunity” for defendants.

Steele also said in the docs that “This decision as it stands will have far-reaching negative consequences beyond Montgomery County and Pennsylvania.”