It seems so improbable now, but there was a time when Bill Cosby was the highest-paid and most influential television star in the world, as well as a legendary comedian and beloved celebrity. Now he’s 83 years old, sitting in prison, essentially out of the public consciousness, but scheduled to appear in Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Dec. 1 as he appeals his felony sexual assault conviction. He’s serving a 3- to 10-year sentence after being convicted in 2018 for an incident that occurred in 2004. A woman accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting her at Cosby’s home in the Philly area.
A lot has happened in the world since Cosby was on trial, so you may have forgotten the details of his testimony, when he admitted to giving the accuser unidentified pills.
Cosby’s lawyers are trying to get the conviction overturned, claiming all along that the encounter was consensual. A lower court previously upheld his conviction, but the state’s high court has agreed to examine two key issues in December that will determine Cosby’s fate. One item is the five additional accusers that testified during Cosby’s trials, whose testimonies were remote and, according to the defense, unreliable. The second issue the court will examine is whether the jury should have been told that in the past Cosby had given women Quaaludes.
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