Bill Cosby files another appeal against sexual assault conviction

Bill Cosby has filed an appeal after a court upheld his conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home in 2004.

Disgraced US comedian entertainer Bill Cosby

Disgraced US comedian entertainer Bill Cosby Source: AP

Comedian Bill Cosby has filed an appeal against a court decision that .

The latest appeal - filed with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which does not have to take the case - focuses on four key trial issues.

They include the judge's decision to let five other accusers give evidence and to send Cosby to trial despite what he called a binding agreement with an earlier prosecutor that he would not be charged.

Cosby, 82, is serving a three-to-10-year prison term at a maximum security state prison in Pennsylvania.
Bill Cosby is taken away in handcuffs after being sentenced to three-to 10-years for felony sexual assault
Bill Cosby is taken away in handcuffs after being sentenced to three-to 10-years for felony sexual assault Source: AP
His lawyers called the 2004 encounter consensual, but a jury found otherwise in April 2018, convicting him on all three counts in the first celebrity trial of the "Me Too" era.

Cosby had been a mentor to the accuser, Andrea Constand, whose allegations formed the basis of the case against him.

At the time, Constand was on the staff of the women's basketball team at his alma mater, Temple University.

In the deposition, Cosby acknowledged giving Constand three pills before the sexual encounter and spoke of giving quaaludes in the 1970s to another accuser before engaging in sex with her.

Cosby's lawyers, in the appeal, also challenge his classification as a sexually violent predator subject to lifetime supervision when he leaves prison.

Cosby, asserting his innocence, has said he will never express remorse to the parole board and therefore expects to serve the entire 10-year sentence.

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit . In an emergency, call 000.


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Published 10 January 2020 6:04am
Updated 10 January 2020 8:08am


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