Trial of Bill Cosby

In December 2015, three Class II felony charges of aggravated indecent assault were filed against American media personality Bill Cosby in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, based on allegations by Andrea Constand concerning incidents in January 2004.

[1] Cosby was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault at retrial on April 26, 2018[2] and on September 25, 2018, he was sentenced to three to ten years in state prison and fined $25,000 plus the cost of the prosecution, $43,611.

[4][5] On June 30, 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found that an agreement with a previous prosecutor, Bruce Castor, prevented Cosby from being charged in the case, and overruled the conviction.

In his testimony, Cosby admitted to casual sex involving recreational use of the sedative-hypnotic methaqualone (Quaaludes) with a series of young women, and he acknowledged that his dispensing of the prescription drug was illegal.

[17][18][19] On December 30, 2015, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Cosby was charged with three counts[20] of aggravated indecent assault on Constand as a result of a single incident alleged to have occurred at his home in Cheltenham Township on an unspecified date between mid-January and mid-February 2004 (referred to by media coverage as "January 2004"), according to the very detailed arrest warrant affidavit filed on December 29, 2015.

Cosby surrendered his passport, posted bond, and was escorted to the Cheltenham Township police station to be booked, fingerprinted, and photographed for a mug shot.

[25] Based on details revealed in this testimony, along with new interviews with certain witnesses, newly elected District Attorney Kevin Steele decided to file charges on December 30, 2015.

[23] The criminal court documents allege[26] that blue pills, said to be Benadryl by Cosby,[21] were given to Constand, who had also been drinking wine during the January 2004 incident.

His lawyers made a similar request in federal court in Massachusetts earlier, but that motion was denied by Judge David H. Hennessy, who likened these efforts to putting the "toothpaste back in the tube" since Cosby's testimony had already been in the news for months.

[35] At the preliminary hearing on May 24, a judge found that there was enough evidence to proceed with a trial, despite the fact that Constand did not testify, which is allowed under Pennsylvania law.

[41] On October 6, Cosby resumed his bid to have his sexual assault case thrown out, arguing that his due process rights were violated.

[41] On February 24, 2017, O'Neill ruled that, out of the other accusers that the prosecution wanted to introduce to show a pattern of alleged criminal sexual behavior by Cosby, only one would be allowed to testify.

[46] The prosecution also moved to introduce into evidence a recorded conversation between Constand's mother Gianna and Cosby discussing the alleged assault.

[50] On March 30, the prosecution opposed this motion and added that comments Cosby made in television interviews with Larry King and in his 1991 book named Childhood about his quest for "Spanish Fly" showed that he was well aware of date rape drugs and that this should also be put into the trial as evidence.

[59] On April 11, O'Neill denied the defense motions on screening jurors and ruled that jury selection would start on May 22 in Pittsburgh, using the usual procedures of law and lasting up to a week.

[62][63] In a press appearance following a hearing in September 2016, Cosby's lawyers claimed for the first time that racial bias was to blame for the sexual assault charges against their client.

[64] In response, prominent criminal defense lawyer commentators, such as Mark Geragos and Carl E. Douglas, stated that this assertion may be an effort to influence potential jurors.

She said Cosby "complains about racial bias but what about the African American women whom I represent who accuse him of sexual assault or rape and who refuse to remain silent about what they say they have suffered?"

[67] In an account by NBC News reporter Tracy Connor, an anonymous juror said that when the jury first told the judge it was deadlocked, on June 15, the votes on the three counts were 7–5, 5–7, and 5–6 with one abstention.

"[68] On June 23, a juror told CNN that the deadlock was caused in large part by confusion over the contradicting statements made by Constand during testimony.

The Montgomery County district attorney, Kevin Steele, asked at this point that Cosby's $1 million bail be revoked, suggesting that he owned a private plane and could flee.

[84] On June 23, 2020, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Cosby would be able to appeal his sexual assault conviction based upon questions on testimony from a witness being more prejudicial than probative.

The court will hear his appeal on arguments of it were proper for five prosecution witnesses to testify in the case and include a deposition that Cosby admitted to giving quaaludes to other women in the past.

[89] The decision stated that, prior to testifying in the Constand case, Cosby had been reliant on an unwritten promise that district attorney Bruce Castor had made to not prosecute him.

Cosby was subsequently required to testify during a civil trial that he gave Quaaludes to women before engaging in sexual intercourse, doing so, the majority held, under the belief that he would not be prosecuted over his testimony.

There was no documentary evidence that any agreement not to prosecute had been reached, but the majority held that Castor's statement was binding on any district attorney who succeeded him and that Cosby should never have been tried, so it ordered him released immediately.

Justice Kevin Dougherty, joined by Chief Justice Max Baer, agreed with the four-justice majority that Castor's agreement with Cosby negated the conviction but felt that since the district attorney did not have the statutory or constitutional power to make a non-prosecution agreement binding on his successors, the remedy should have been limited to the suppression of Cosby's deposition in any retrial.

It warned that this could make many defendants, in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, who have received such prosecutorial promises claim immunity via the Due Process Clause no matter what evidence emerged against them in the future and that the Court should decide this question of first impression before that issue came to a head.

asks the United States Supreme Court to throw the Constitution out the window, as it did, to satisfy the #metoo mob" said Wyatt in his own statement in response.

Cosby lawyer Jennifer Bonjean doubted the Supreme Court would take the case, and said "[i]t seems like a waste of resources and time" to persuade it to.