US Supreme Court Declines To Revisit The Bill Cosby Case

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge brought by prosecutors in Pennsylvania regarding a state court ruling that overturned comedian Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction.

What Happened: Cosby was arrested in 2015 for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a Canadian ex-professional basketball player, at his home in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania in 2004. The court case against Cosby ended in a mistrial in 2017, but he was retried and in 2018 was sentenced to 10 years in state prison.

In June 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated Cosby’s conviction and released him from prison, citing Cosby and the previous prosecutor in his case had an agreement that guaranteed he wouldn't face criminal trial if he testified in a civil deposition. The court also determined the trial testimony of five women with similar stories to Constand created undue prejudice.

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What Happens Next: Last November, the District Attorney’s Office for Pennsylvania’s Montgomery County asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the state’s court ruling. But with the high court turning away the case, Pennsylvania’s attempt to put Cosby back in prison has come to an end.

“Petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court for review was the right thing to do, but obviously there was only a small chance that the high court would be able to hear the case,” said Kevin Steele, the district attorney in Montgomery County, in a press statement.

Photo: Bill Cosby in 2011 by the World Affairs Council / Flickr Creative Commons