A Pennsylvania appeals court rejects Bill Cosby’s bid to overturn his sexual assault conviction. The ruling was being closely watched as Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the MeToo era.
FILE - In this Sept. 24, 2018 file photo Bill Cosby arrives for his sentencing hearing at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa. A Pennsylvania appeals court has rejected Cosby’s bid to overturn his sexual assault conviction. The ruling Monday, Dec. 10, 2019, was being closely watched as Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era. Defense lawyers say the trial judge improperly allowed five other accusers to testify.
The Superior Court ruling was being closely watched because Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era. The same issue was hard-fought in pretrial hearings before movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault trial. “Here, the evidence established appellant’s unique sexual assault playbook,” the court said, noting that “no two events will ever be identical.
He was arrested a decade later, after a federal judge unsealed portions of the deposition at the request of The Associated Press and new prosecutors reopened the criminal case. Judge Steven O’Neill’s decision to let the other accusers testify came after more than 60 women accused Cosby of sexual misconduct. Prosecutors asked to call 19 of them. Superior Court Judge John Bender appeared to agree with O’Neill’s logic in letting some take the stand.
O’Neill had allowed just one other accuser at Cosby’s first trial in 2017, when the jury deadlocked. Cosby’s lawyers called his later decision to let more women testify arbitrary and prejudicial.
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