Bill Cosby will have his appeal of his 2018 sexual assault conviction heard, a stunning decision that’s likely to become another high-profile legal battle for the disgraced comedian.
Lawyers for the 82-year-old former star, who was found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in his mansion in 2004, had asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court announced to review two aspects in the case, including a judge’s decision to allow five separate accusers to testify against him.
Cosby is being held at a maximum-security facility outside Philadelphia after being sentenced to three to 10 years in prison in September 2018, a historic and precedent-setting moment for the #MeToo movement.
More Top Picks Best Polarized Sunglasses For Fishing
But his lawyers claim the testimony from those five victims were unreliable and irrelevant and fell outside the statute of limitations, with some of the allegations dating back to the 1970s, court records show. They also say the jury should never have heard evidence of Cosby’s use of Quaaludes, a party drug the actor once admitted to using to dope women he wanted to grope.
The court will also review Cosby’s argument that he and a former prosecutor had an agreement that he would never face charges in the case. The once-beloved comedian has said he relied on that agreement before he testified in a civil lawsuit about the same case.
Andrew Wyatt, a spokesman for the defense team, said Cosby was “extremely thankful” with Tuesday’s announcement. Wyatt was also pleased with the timing of the decision, citing the ongoing protests against systemic racism and police brutality across the country.
“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,” he said in a statement.
The comedian, who insists the 2004 encounter was consensual, has previously said he has no intention of expressing remorse when he applies for parole in the case.
With News Wire Services