Supreme Court declines to review overturned Cosby conviction News
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Supreme Court declines to review overturned Cosby conviction

The US Supreme Court declined to review Monday the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that overturned entertainer Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction.

In 2005, former Temple University employee Andrea Constand alleged that Cosby had sexually assaulted and drugged her. The case was settled, and District Attorney Bruce Castor declined to press criminal charges. However, in 2015, Castor’s successor Kevin Steele reopened the case.

In 2018, Cosby was convicted of three counts of aggravated assault against Constand. He was sentenced to three to ten years in prison.

Cosby appealed the decision, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction in June 2021. The court determined that Cosby had relied on a 2005 press release in which then-District Attorney Castor had declined to file charges. Cosby then provided evidence in a civil lawsuit brought against him by the new prosecutor, Steele, who used that evidence to bring criminal charges. The court found that Cosby had relied on the 2005 press release, even though prosecutors argued that the press release did not say that they would never bring charges against Cosby.

Pennsylvania prosecutors then asked the Supreme Court to review the decision. However, on Monday, the Supreme Court issued an order in which it declined to hear the case. The court did not provide any other comment on the case. Because of this, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision stands.

In the order, the Supreme Court also declined to hear another high-profile lawsuit which sought to hold Facebook accountable for sex trafficking.