Bill Cosby’s lawyers urged a panel of Pennsylvania appellate judges Monday to overturn his sexual assault conviction, setting the stage for a ruling that could shape the future of the #MeToo movement’s push to hold celebrity abusers accountable in court.
For roughly an hour, attorneys jockeyed before a panel of Superior Court judges on two key issues: whether it was fair to include testimony from five additional women who accused Cosby of assault, and whether a past prosecutor had agreed never to prosecute the comedian — or even had the authority to do so.
The judges did not issue a ruling Monday and did not set a timetable for doing so. But they aimed many of their most contentious questions at attorneys for the 82-year-old comedian.
Cosby was convicted last year solely in the 2004 assault of central accuser Andrea Constand, but the jury in his case heard testimony from the five women, a fraction of the 19 witnesses whom the prosecution sought to call.
While prosecutors in the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office argued that the additional testimony was appropriate because it served as evidence of a larger pattern, Cosby’s attorneys contended that was a stretch.
“Everything is different,” Cosby attorney Kristen L. Weisenberger said, noting that some of the cases stretched back decades, that the women had professions ranging from waitress to flight attendant, and that one woman said she did not recall an assault.
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Philadelphia Inquirer
