U.S. court to review Cosby conviction

PHILADELPHIA — In a stunning decision that could test the legal framework of #MeToo cases, Pennsylvania’s highest court will review the trial decision to let five other accusers testify at Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial in 2018, which ended with his conviction.

Cosby, 82, has been imprisoned in suburban Philadelphia for nearly two years after a jury convicted him of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home in 2004. He’s serving a three- to 10-year sentence.

The Supreme Court has agreed to review two aspects of the case, including the judge’s decision to let prosecutors call the other accusers to testify about long-ago encounters with the once-powerful actor and comedian. Cosby’s lawyers have long complained the testimony is remote and unreliable.

The court will also consider, as it weighs the scope of the testimony allowed, whether the jury should have heard evidence that Cosby had given quaaludes to women in the past.

Secondly, the court will examine Cosby’s argument that he had an agreement with a former prosecutor that he would never be charged in the case.

Cosby has acknowledged a string of extramarital relationships. He called them consensual, but many of the women say they were drugged and molested. Dozens came forward in the years that followed to accuse Cosby of sexual misconduct.

A judge allowed just one of them to testify at Cosby’s first trial in 2017, which ended with an acquittal.