The Supreme Court is leaving in place a decision made by Pennsylvania’s highest court that led to Bill Cosby’s release from prison. Cosby will remain free.
The Supreme Court declined prosecutors’ request to hear the case and reinstate Cosby’s conviction on Monday. The high court did not explain the decision not to review the case but included it with a long list of other cases they would not reconsider.
Cosby’s spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, thanked the high court on behalf of Cosby and his wife and family for “following the rules of law and protecting the Constitutional Rights of ALL American Citizens,” according to USA Today. He added that Cosby was victimized by “a reprehensible bait and switch” from the prosecutor and trial judge, the AP reported.
Cosby’s prosecutor, Montgomery County Pa., District Attorney Kevin Steele, said in a statement that petitioning the high court was “the right thing to do.”
In 2018, Cosby was found guilty of sexual assault for drugging and raping Andrea Constand in 2004. Sixty women accused him of rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, and sexual misconduct. He was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison and required to register as a sexual predator for life.
The actor served more than two years of his sentence at a Philadelphia-area state prison. However, his conviction was overturned.
Cosby, now 84, was released in June 2021, after Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court overturned his rape conviction, ruling that his constitutional rights had been violated during the prosecution.
He also expressed good wishes for Constand.
