PHILADELPHIA:
The lead prosecutor in Bill Cosby’s sex assault case believes the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overstepped its power in reversing the comedian’s conviction and added “fuel on the fire” when the chief justice gave a weekend television interview — and appeared to misstate the key issue in the appeal.
Chief Justice Max Baer accused prosecutors of a “reprehensible bait and switch” in arresting Cosby in 2015 despite what he called the certain existence of a 2005 nonprosecution agreement.
“There was no controversy whatsoever that the deal was made. It was memorialized in emails, it was memorialized in news conferences,” Baer told WHTM-TV in Harrisburg.
However, the existence of the agreement has been hotly debated, both before and after the two criminal trials that ended with Cosby’s conviction in 2018. And there was no mention of it in writing until 2015.
The ex-prosecutor who said he made the promise in 2005, Bruce Castor, waited until the case was reopened a decade later to tell the victim or anyone in his office about it, according to their testimony. By then, the defense lawyer to whom Castor said he made the promise had died.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said this week he is reviewing the Supreme Court decision to see if he might challenge it. He believes the state’s high court revisited the facts of the case, which he called the job of the trial judge. The appellate courts are tasked with reviewing legal rulings.
One potential path is to seek review at the US Supreme Court, although that is often a long shot. Cosby, who turned 84 on Monday, served nearly three years in prison before his release. Sex assault victims, and many Cosby accusers, have sharply criticized the June 30 decision.
“Despite the extensive investigation we conducted, we found no credible evidence that Castor had given Cosby immunity,” Steele said in a statement issued late Sunday, in response to Baer’s unusual television comments about the decision.
“There has been a tremendous amount of misinformation about what actually took place in this criminal prosecution. Throwing further fuel on the fire was a televised interview airing this weekend by now Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Baer,” Steele said.