Prosecutors Seeking To Revive Bill Cosby Case, Files Appeal With Supreme Court

Prosecutors have filed an appeal on the court ruling of Bill Cosby's case, arguing that a district attorney may have falsely granted immunity. The appeal was filed by prosecutors in Pennsylvania with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.

According to the Montgomery County district attorney who led the high-profile court prosecution against Cosby for sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, the key concern of the appeal are the 14th Amendment and the right to due process.

The filing presented a question to the court about whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment considered the initial announcement made by the prosecutor publicly as a binding promise that no charges would be filed against Cosby. Prosecutors reasoned that the court should review whether such public announcements should be considered a grant of immunity.

District Attorney Kevin Steele said that petitioning for the Supreme Court to review the decision was the "right thing to do" given the precedent that would be set by the case.

"Petitioning to ask the High Court for review was the right thing to do because of the precedent set in this case by the majority opinion of Pennsylvania Supreme Court that prosecutors' statements in press releases now seemingly create immunity," Steele said.

For allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting Constand in his Pennsylvania home in 2004, Cosby was convicted of aggravated indecent assault in 2018. He was given a sentence of three to ten years in state prison. This was the first high-profile celebrity criminal prosecution since the #MeToo movement began.

In June, he was freed from jail after the Texas Supreme Court reversed his sexual assault conviction, citing a violation of his due process rights. A former Montgomery County district attorney's choice not to prosecute Cosby in 2005 in exchange for his deposition in a civil matter was ultimately used against him at trial.

Andrew Wyatt, a spokesperson for Bill Cosby, slammed the appeal, claiming the DA's office is simply unwilling to recognize its loss. Wyatt claimed that there was no merit to the appeal, which revolves around the unique facts of the case. He added that these facts have no impact on the federal questions of law.

"This is a pathetic last-ditch effort that will not prevail. The Montgomery County's DA's fixation with Mr. Cosby is troubling, to say the least," Wyatt said.

The appeal has reportedly not been officially received by the U.S. Supreme Court.