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The highest court in Pennsylvania questioned on Tuesday whether Bill Cosby’s alleged story of intoxication and sexual assault of young women constituted a distinctive crime pattern, as studies show that up to half of all sexual assaults involve drugs or alcohol.
Cosby, 83, hopes to overturn his 2018 sexual assault conviction because the judge let prosecutors call five other accusers who said Cosby mistreated them in the same way that his victim, Andrea Constand did. . The defense said their testimony prejudiced the jury against the plaintiff and should not have been allowed.
“That conduct you describe – the steps, the young women – there is literature that says it is common to 50 percent of these assaults – thousands of assaults – nationwide,” asked a prosecutor Thomas G Saylor during discussions. Orals to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. “So how can this be a common pattern?”
The prosecutor, in response, offered more specific details about the reports, saying Cosby used his fame and fortune to mentor women and then took advantage of it. And sometimes he made friends with their mothers or families.
Actor and comedian Bill Cosby leaves Montgomery County Courthouse after the first day of the sentencing hearing of his sexual assault trial in Norristown, Pennsylvania in 2018 [Brendan McDermid/Reuters]
“There was an inherent level of trust because of his status in the entertainment industry and because he presented himself as a public moralist,” said assistant district attorney Adrienne Jappe, of Montgomery County, suburban Philadelphia, where Constand said she was assaulted at Cosby’s Estate in 2004.
“The signing was isolating and intoxicating the young women for the purpose of sexually assaulting them,” Jappe said.
Cosby served more than two years of his three- to 10-year prison sentence for drugging and molesting Constand, whom he met during the basketball program at his alma mater, Temple University.
Courts have long struggled with decisions about when other prosecutors should be allowed to testify in criminal cases. It’s generally not allowed, but state law allows for some exceptions, including showing a distinctive crime pattern or proving someone’s identity.
The state high court seems eager to address the matter and in doing so has dealt with the first celebrity crime case of the #MeToo era. The court typically takes several months to deliver its opinion.
Judge Steven T O’Neill had only allowed one other prosecutor to testify at Cosby’s first trial in 2017, when the jury failed to reach a verdict. The #MeToo movement took off months later with media reports of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and other men accused of sexual misconduct.
O’Neill then let five other accusers testify at Cosby’s retrial in 2018, when the jury convicted him of drugs and sexual assault in Constand.
Cosby’s appeals attorney Jennifer Bonjean said prosecutors exploited “all this vague testimony” about his previous behavior and his acknowledgment of giving women alcohol before sexual encounters.
“They put Mr. Cosby in a position where he didn’t have a chance to shoot. The presumption of innocence simply did not exist for him, “Bonjean said in discussions on Tuesday, which took place online over the COVID-19 pandemic, the Associated Press news agency reported.
Constand went to the police in 2005, about a year after the night at his home. The other women knew Cosby in the 1980s through the entertainment industry and didn’t go to the police.
The defense also contested the trial judge’s decision to allow the jury to hear the damaging testimony Cosby gave in a lawsuit Constand filed against him in 2005 after then-prosecutor Bruce Castor refused to arrest Cosby. .
The testimony was sealed for nearly a decade until the AP asked a federal judge to release the case papers as other Cosby’s accusers came forward.
The judge agreed and Castor’s successor reopened the case in 2015, a few months before the limitation period for arrest expired.
Bill Cosby’s attorneys will argue Tuesday that his 2018 sexual assault trial was marred by evidence and testimony that should have been ruled out as they ask Pennsylvania’s highest court to dismiss the conviction. https://t.co/YOVfOUaIe6
– Action news on 6abc (@ 6abc) December 1, 2020
Cosby, a once-beloved comedian and actor known as “America’s Dad,” said it will serve throughout his 10-year term rather than admit the blame to the probation commission.
Criminal law professor Laurie Levenson believes it is important for the court to look into Cosby’s conviction given the publicity the case has drawn, the legal issues raised, and the potential influence of the #MeToo movement.
However, she was less sure there was any data showing that intoxication was as prevalent in sexual assault cases in the 1980s through 2004 as it is today.
“We’ve heard a lot more about the types of doping sexual assaults [recently], but I’m not sure how common it was at the time of this offense, “said Levenson, of Loyola Law School.” I think the court is doing the right thing, which is to ask, ‘Was he convicted on legitimate evidence? ‘”
The AP does not typically identify victims of sexual assault without their permission, which Constand has granted.
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