Bill Cosby's lawyers file appeal, ask for new sexual assault trial

Actor and Comedian Bill Cosby, who’s serving three and a half years in prison, has filed another appeal against his conviction of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman about 15 years ago.
In court documents filed Tuesday with Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, Cosby’s attorneys argue that five women should not have been allowed to present testimony and/or evidence at his trial as witnesses.
They are saying that their “decades-old” allegations, which weren’t a part of the charges, had prejudiced the jury.
Yes, but the man was a serial sexual predator.  It was not just a few women, as Cosby allegedly did the same thing to other women throughout his career.  That’s a very long time.  And besides, their testimony lent credibility to the woman who filed the complaint.
The lawyer additionally argue that it was “fundamentally unfair” that deposition testimony which Cosby gave during a civil case regarding his use of knockout drugs and his sexual misconduct in the 1970’s was heard in court during his trial.
Their argument is that Cosby believed that he had immunity from prosecution when he gave it his deposition.
I can believe I’m Mary, Queen of Scots, but that doesn’t make it so.  He either had immunity, in which case the lawyers would have drawn up the contract that defined the immunity agreement, or he did not.  If he cannot produce the product of the alleged immunity then it doesn’t exist.  A court can’t entertain an argument that Cosby “believed” his testimony was given under immunity.
The 83-year-old actor shattered racial barriers together with his Emmy-winning role on “I Spy” in the 1960’s, after which as a father and doctor on the hit TV series “The Cosby Show” 20 years later.
Cosby fell from grace as accusation of sexual misconduct came out against him, and he was eventually found guilty in 2018 of assaulting Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia mansion.
I personally loved Bill Cosby.  I was born and raised in Philadelphia, and Cosby was a hero to many Philadelphians.  We looked up to him.  It was such a blow to hear what he had been doing for years.  At first, I didn’t believe it, but then learned that not believing it could be true was one of the reasons he got away with it for so long.
His was the first celebrity trial and guilty verdict for sexual assault since the creation of the #MeToo movement.
A judge sentenced Cosby to a minimum of three and a half years in prison for three counts of aggravated indecent assault.
An earlier trial in June 2017 led to a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
Though more than 60 women charged that they’d been victims of sexual assault by Cosby, he was tried criminally for only Constand’s assault allegations, because the statute of limitations had expired in the other cases.
Back in December, Cosby lost an appeal when a court ruled that the evidence presented by the prosecution established Cosby’s “unique sexual assault playbook.”
A dozen women filed civil suits against Cosby for similar allegations, seeking compensation for damages.

Source: NBCnews

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