Pennsylvania’s highest court threw out Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction in a stunning reversal of fortune for the comedian who once went from being known as “America’s Dad” to "America's Rapist" after being accused of sexual assault by sixty women. The court did not clear him of the charges or say that he was innocent-- it ruled that the prosecutor who brought the original case was bound by his predecessor’s agreement not to charge Cosby.
Cosby’s argument that the original prosecutor had made an agreement not to prosecute him was already adjudicated in Cosby's trial and rejected by the judge, based in part on the fact that no such agreement existed in writing. “There’s no other witness to the promise,” the judge in that case said to Castor’s effort to convince him that the agreement was a real thing. “The rabbit is in the hat and you want me at this point to assume: ‘Hey, the promise was made, judge. Accept that.’”
Cosby had already admitted in a previous civil case to pursuing sex with young women with the aid of Quaaludes, which can render a person functionally immobile. “I used them,” he said, “the same as a person would say, ‘Have a drink.’ ” He asked a modeling agent to connect him with young women who were new in town and “financially not doing well.” In the deposition, Cosby expressed the opinion that his behavior did not constitute rape; he apparently saw little difference between buying someone dinner in pursuit of sex and drugging them to reach the same goal.
Therese Serignese, whom Cosby had confessed to drugging and assaulting at a Las Vegas hotel in 1976, said the court ruling took her breath away. “I just think it’s a miscarriage of justice. This is about procedure. It’s not about the truth of the women,” she said. The now 64-year-old Serignese said she took solace in the fact Cosby served nearly three years behind bars: “That’s as good as it gets in America” for sex crime victims.
Victoria Valentino, who accused Cosby of raping her in the 1960s, said her stomach was “lurching” and that his release was a deep injustice. “I am outraged! Outraged! Stunned!” she told CNN. “My stomach is in knots. The work that we have done to uplift women has been overturned by a legal glitch. We now have a serial predator on the street.”
Patricia Steuer, who said that Cosby drugged and assaulted her in two separate incidents in 1978 and 1980, told The New York Times she was “a little stunned” by the ruling. “I’m feeling sad because this is absolutely a perceived loss on my part,” Steuer told the publication. “I’m wondering what the 43-year ordeal that I went through was supposed to be about.”
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