Bill Cosby's Appeal of Sex Crimes

 Pennsylvania Supreme Court said Tuesday that it had accepted convicted Bill Cosby's sex crime appeal of his 2018 conviction, thus raising the possibility it might be overturned in the future. 

The court limited its review to two key issues from Cosby's appeal, which were raised during his two trials on charges of drugging and raping a woman at his Pennsylvania home in January 2004.  

Under Pennsylvania law, the high court did not have to accept Cosby's nearly 300-page appeal, in which he raised multiple issues objecting to the conduct of his two trials. 

Andrew Wyatt, a spokesman for Cosby, 82 and now serving a three-to-10 year sentence in a state prison, said the former TV icon is extremely thankful.

In its one-page order, the Supreme Court said it would review the appellate panel's decision on Cosby's case based first on whether the trial judge's decision to allow other accusers to testify about alleged, uncharged prior bad acts by Cosby was prejudicial as opposed to probative, a standard used to allow or disallow testimony. 

Under the usual timeline, the high court would next set a briefing schedule and eventually a date for oral arguments before the court. 

The high court said it would review whether such testimony was too old, whether the details of the accusations differed too much from those alleged at the trial, whether that was more prejudicial than probative, and whether allowing such testimony constituted nothing but improper propensity evidence.

For now, Cosby remains in prison, and is not eligible for release due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has affected many state and federal prisons. His legal team is considering whether to seek his release, on grounds of age and blindness, pending the high court's review of his appeal.