Bill Cosby’s Conviction Reversed!

Today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed and vacated Bill Cosby’s Montgomery County conviction on all three counts of sexual assault. PA’s highest court further held that the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office is barred from pursuing any future prosecution of Mr. Cosby for these same charges.

Bill Cosby was convicted by a Montgomery County jury of three counts of aggravated indecent for allegedly sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. When Constand first reported the allegations, the District Attorney at the time, Bruce Castor, investigated the allegations, but apparently concluded that it was unlikely that a criminal prosecution of Cosby would be successful.

In a supposed effort to effectuate some justice for Ms. Constand, Mr. Castor entered into an agreement with Cosby’s lawyers which, in essence, purported to grant Cosby immunity from criminal prosecution for any testimony that Mr. Cosby gave in connection with Ms. Constand’s civil suit arising out of the same alleged sexual assaults. Without such an agreement, Mr. Cosby would have properly asserted his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent at any depositions in the civil case, on the grounds that his testimony could be used against him in a subsequent criminal prosecution. In apparent reliance on Castor’s agreement not to prosecute, Mr. Cosby testified at the deposition for Ms. Constand’s civil case.

Mr. Castor’s successors in the Montgomery County DA’s Office apparently did not feel that they were bound by the agreement that Castor purportedly made with Cosby on behalf of the DA’s office. In 2015, Bill Cosby was charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault for the alleged 2004 sexual assaults of Constand. The inculpatory testimony that Cosby gave at the deposition for Constand’s civil case, was admitted against Cosby in his criminal trial.

In an Opinion issued on June 30, 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court concluded that the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office was not free to disregard the agreement that former DA Castor made on behalf of the District Attorney’s Office. The Court opined that “neither our principles of justice, nor society’s expectations, nor our sense of fair play and decency, can tolerate anything short of compelling the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office to stand by the decision of its former elected head.”