Bill Cosby loses appeal of sex-crimes conviction

Bill Cosby's effort to persuade Pennsylvania judges to overturn his 2018 sex-crimes conviction was unanimously rejected Tuesday by a state appeals court in full.

Cosby's lawyers had sought to get his conviction on three counts of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in his home in 2004 overturned based on multiple grounds; the main one condemned the trial judge's decision to let five other accusers of uncharged crimes testify against him to bolster prosecutors' argument that Cosby had engaged in a pattern of "prior bad acts."

But the Superior Court said Pennsylvania law allows the testimony if it shows Cosby had a "signature" pattern of drugging and molesting women.

More: Bill Cosby's appeal of his sex-crime conviction goes before judges in crucial hearing

In it's 94-page ruling, the court discussed at length the Cosby argument against the testimony, dismantling the assertions that such testimony was more prejudicial than probative.

"For all the aforementioned reasons, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the (prior bad acts) evidence and, therefore, Appellant’s first claim lacks merit," the ruling concluded.

Cosby can now ask the state Supreme Court to consider his appeal but under state law there is no guarantee it will grant it.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele issued a statement saying he was pleased, adding that he hoped the case against Cosby is now over after nearly four years of what the court called "tortured" history of legal proceedings in the suburban Philadelphia county. Steele also lavishly praised the "bravery" of Cosby's accuser, Andrea Constand.

"First and foremost, it is my hope that with this last guaranteed step in the criminal justice process now complete, the victim in this case, Andrea Constand, can finally put this assault behind her and move on with her life as the strong survivor she is," Steele said. "The world is forever changed because of Andrea’s bravery. With this decision, it has been affirmed that no one is above the law.“

Cosby's spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, issued a statement saying the news was "appalling and disappointing," and reiterated Cosby's oft-stated assertion since his conviction that he is a victim of a corrupt justice system.

"...It shows the level of corruption that resides in the Judicial System of Pennsylvania," Wyatt said in a statement emailed to USA TODAY. "It’s obvious that these judges’ minds were made up because they didn’t take the time to dissect Mr. Cosby’s appeal. We’re not shocked because it shows the world that this isn’t about justice, but this is a political scheme to destroy America’s Dad.

"However they will not stop us and we will prevail in the State Supreme Court. Mr. Cosby remains hopeful and he stands behind his innocence."

Jennifer Bonjean, one of Cosby's appellate lawyers, said his legal team is hopeful that the state high court will take the case because of a number of "novel" issues his appeal raises, including that his due process rights were violated.

"What has been given short attention in the decision is that it devoted only one graph to the prejudice Mr. Cosby suffered" by the prior bad acts testimony, she said.

She said the case is not over even if the high court rejects the case, because Cosby also has the right to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition, she said Cosby could go back to the trial court level to seek a hearing under the state's Post-Conviction Relief Act to bring up new evidence of, say, failures by his trial attorneys.

"It's not over," Bonjean said. "We're still hopeful the (state) Supreme Court will review this case."

Cosby's wife, Camille, also issued a statement emailed to USA TODAY, reading in part: "I can assure you that our personal battle against clear, racist, incestuous vindictiveness within the Pennsylvania criminal justice systems, is not over."

The ruling from the Pennsylvania Superior Court was being closely watched because Cosby was the first celebrity tried (in a second trial) and convicted in the #MeToo era.

The issue of "prior bad acts" witnesses and testimony has been hard-fought in pretrial hearings before movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault trial, scheduled to begin Jan. 6. As it now stands, prosecutors in that case plan to call multiple such witnesses to testify against Weinstein.

Cosby's lawyers in his appeal argued that trial Judge Steven O'Neill had improperly allowed the five women to testify at his second trial in 2018 even though he'd let just one woman testify at the first trial in 2017.

Cosby, 82, has been serving a three-to-10-year prison term for the 2004 encounter at his suburban Philadelphia home, which he claimed was consensual. His lawyers also argued that he had a binding promise from a former prosecutor that he would never be charged in the case and could testify freely at a deposition in accuser Constand's related lawsuit.

He was arrested a decade later, after a federal judge unsealed portions of the deposition at the request of The Associated Press and Steele, a newly elected district attorney, reopened the criminal case.

O'Neill's decision to let five other accusers testify came after more than 60 women accused Cosby of sexual misconduct starting in 2014, and after Cosby's first trial ended in a hung jury in June 2017.

For the second trial, prosecutors asked to call 19 witnesses. Cosby's lawyers called his decision to let five women testify arbitrary and prejudicial.

But at oral arguments, Superior Court Judge John Bender appeared to agree with O'Neill's logic in letting some take the stand.

"The reality of it is, he gives them drugs and then he sexually assaults them. And in four out of the five, those were in mentor situations," Bender said.

The long-married Cosby, once beloved as "America's Dad" for his TV role as Dr. Cliff Huxtable on the hugely popular sitcom "The Cosby Show," had acknowledged having sexual contact with a string of younger women, many of whom came to him for career advice and took alcohol or pills he offered them.

He and his lawyers and agents have suggested that many of the accusers were gold diggers seeking money or fame.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bill Cosby loses appeal of sex-crimes conviction