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Alice Sebold biopic axed after man’s rape conviction is overturned

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Plans to adapt Alice Sebold’s 1999 memoir Lucky have been scrapped, after the man she accused of raping her had his conviction overturned.

Anthony Broadwater spent 16 years in prison after being convicted in 1982 of raping Sebold when she was 18 years old. He was exonerated last week.

Lucky was in the process of being adapted for film, with You star Victoria Pedretti cast to play Sebold, but after Tim Mucciante signed on as executive producer, he noticed glaring discrepancies in the prosecutor’s case and “started poking around and trying to figure out what really happened”.

Mucciante was dropped from the project, but he hired Dan Myers as a private investigator to look into the evidence. Myers, who spent 20 years working for the Onondaga County sheriff’s office, also became convinced of Broadwater’s innocence and recommended J David Hammond as his defence attorney.

Victoria Pedretti has been cast to play Alice Sebold in new film

(Chelsea Lauren/Shutterstock)

Hammond told CNN that he and his colleague, Melissa Swartz, listened to the transcript of the trial and found “serious legal issues”, prompting them to file a motion to have the conviction overturned.

According to Variety, the film adaptation has been dropped and Pedretti is no longer attached.

Lucky details how, as a teenage student, Sebold was raped and beaten inside a tunnel near her university campus.

Sebold wrote about seeing a Black man in the street several months after her attack, a man she became convinced he was her attacker. “He was smiling as he approached. He recognised me. It was a stroll in the park to him; he had met an acquaintance on the street,” she wrote.

“‘Hey, girl,’ he said. ‘Don’t I know you from somewhere?’ I looked directly at him. Knew his face had been the face over me in the tunnel.”

Sebold went to the police but they failed to find her attacker in the initial search. An officer suggested that the man in the street must have been Broadwater, who was supposedly in that area at the time. In her memoir, she gives him the pseudonym Gregory Madison.

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While the police arrested Broadwater, Sebold failed to identify him in a police lineup. She picked up a different man as her attacker because “the expression in his eyes told me that if we were alone, if there were no wall between us, he would call me by name and then kill me”.

Broadwater, who was 20 years old at the time, had returned home from a stint in the Marines to spend time with his ill father.

Anthony Broadwater sobbed as he heard his rape conviction had been overturned

(AP)

Despite Sebold failing to identify him in a police lineup, Broadwater was sent to trial, where Sebold identified him as her rapist on the witness stand. At the time of Broadwater’s arrest and subsequent prosecution, his father’s health worsened. He died shortly after Broadwater was sent to prison.

His conviction was largely based on Sebold’s identification of him as her attacker and on microscopic hair analysis by an expert linking him to the crime. That type of analysis has since been deemed junk science by the US Department of Justice.

Broadwater had remained on New York’s sex offender registry after finishing his prison term in 1999. He worked as a trash hauler and handyman in the years after his release. The conviction eclipsed his job prospects and his relationships with family and friends.

“I’m not going to sully this proceeding by saying, ‘I’m sorry.’ That doesn’t cut it,” the Onondaga county district attorney, William Fitzpatrick, told him. “This should never have happened.”

A spokesperson for publisher Scribner declined to comment to Variety on the conviction’s overturning.

“Neither Alice Sebold nor Scribner has any comment. Scribner has no plans to update the text of Lucky at this time,” they said.

Sebold later wrote another book about rape, the bestselling novel The Lovely Bones.

The Independent has contacted Sebold’s representatives for comment.

If you have been raped or sexually assaulted, you can contact your nearest Rape Crisis organisation for specialist, independent and confidential support. For more information, visit their website here.

This article was amended on 1 December 2021. An earlier version suggested Lucky was a Netflix production.

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Film version of Alice Sebold book scrapped after rape conviction overturned | Books

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Plans to adapt Alice Sebold’s memoir Lucky, about her rape as an 18-year-old, have been dropped, according to Variety.

The news comes after the rape conviction at the heart of the 1999 memoir was overturned last week. Anthony Broadwater had spent 16 years in prison after being convicted of the crime in 1982, based largely on Sebold’s identification of him as her rapist on the witness stand, and on microscopic hair analysis by an expert tying him to the crime. The US Department of Justice now rejects such analysis, and Broadwater was cleared last Monday of raping Sebold. “I’m not going to sully this proceeding by saying, ‘I’m sorry.’ That doesn’t cut it,” said the Onondaga county district attorney, William Fitzpatrick. “This should never have happened.”

Victoria Pedretti, who was set to star in Lucky. Photograph: Chelsea Lauren/Rex/Shutterstock

Tim Mucciante, who has a production company called Red Badge Films, signed on as executive producer of the adaptation, to feature You star Victoria Pedretti. But Mucciante became sceptical of Broadwater’s guilt and “started poking around and trying to figure out what really happened here”.

Now Variety has reported that the film adaptation has been dropped, and that Pedretti is no longer involved with the project. According to the entertainment magazine, a source close to the production said it had been abandoned after “losing its financing months ago”.

Lucky details how as an 18-year-old Sebold was raped and beaten inside a tunnel near her university campus. Later, Sebold writes of how she saw a Black man in the street and was convinced he was her attacker. “He was smiling as he approached. He recognised me. It was a stroll in the park to him; he had met an acquaintance on the street. “‘Hey, girl,’ he said. ‘Don’t I know you from somewhere?’” Sebold writes. “I looked directly at him. Knew his face had been the face over me in the tunnel.”

Broadwater is given the pseudonym Gregory Madison in the book. The memoir records how after he is arrested, Sebold fails to identify him in a police identity parade, but he is nonetheless tried and convicted. A spokesperson for publisher Scribner declined to comment on the conviction’s overturning. “Neither Alice Sebold nor Scribner has any comment. Scribner has no plans to update the text of Lucky at this time,” they said.

Sebold went on to write the award-winning, bestselling novel The Lovely Bones, about the rape and murder of a young girl.

“I never, ever, ever thought I would see the day that I would be exonerated,” said Broadwater after the court made its ruling last week.

This article was amended on 30 November 2021. An earlier version suggested Lucky was a Netflix production.

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Entertainment

Man convicted of raping The Lovely Bones author Alice Sebold has conviction overturned after 16 years in prison after producer hired PI over story

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A man wrongfully convicted of raping The Lovely Bones author Alice Sebold in 1981, a crime described in her 1999 memoir, has had his conviction overturned.

Anthony Broadwater, 61, shook with emotion and sobbed with his head in his hands as a judge vacated the conviction at the request of prosecutors on Monday.

“I never, ever, ever thought I would see the day that I would be exonerated,” said Mr Broadwater, who spent 16 years in prison for the raping the celebrated author while she was a first-year student at Syracuse University in 1981.

Ms Sebold, 58, wrote of being attacked in her memoir Lucky, and then spotting a Black man in the street months later that she identified as her attacker.

“He was smiling as he approached. He recognised me. It was a stroll in the park to him; he had met an acquaintance on the street,” Ms Sebold wrote.

“‘Hey, girl,’ he said. ‘Don’t I know you from somewhere?’”

She said she didn’t respond: “I looked directly at him. Knew his face had been the face over me in the tunnel.”

Ms Sebold went to police, but she didn’t know the man’s name and an initial sweep of the area failed to locate him.

An officer suggested the man in the street must have been Mr Broadwater, who had supposedly been seen in the area.

After Mr Broadwater was arrested, Ms Sebold failed to identify him in a police lineup, picking a different man as her attacker because “the expression in his eyes told me that if we were alone, if there were no wall between us, he would call me by name and then kill me.”

Mr Broadwater was nonetheless tried and convicted in 1982 based largely on two pieces of evidence.

On the witness stand, Ms Sebold identified him as her rapist. And an expert said microscopic hair analysis had tied Broadwater to the crime. That type of analysis has since been deemed junk science by the US Department of Justice, the Associated Press reported.

(Supplied)

Ms Sebold’s 2003 book The Lovely Bones, about the rape and murder of a teenage girl, won the American Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award for Adult Fiction in 2003 and was made into a movie starring Saoirse Ronan, Susan Sarandon and Michael Imperioli.

Lucky was also in the process of being adapted into a film, and it was while filmmakers were drafting a script for the film that they became skeptical of Mr Broadwater’s guilt.

Former executive producer Tim Mucciante said he wanted to learn more about the case after noticing inconsistencies between the first draft of the script and the book.

“I started poking around and trying to figure out what really happened here,” Mr Mucciante told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

After dropping out of the project, the filmmaker hired a private investigator, who put him in touch with David Hammond and Melissa Swartz of the Syracuse-based firm CDH Law.

They contacted Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, who took a personal interest in the case and had an understanding of how scientific advances had cast doubt on the use of hair analysis.

On Monday, Mr Fitzpatrick told state Supreme Court Justice Gordon Cuffy that Mr Broadwater’s prosecution was an injustice.

“I’m not going to sully this proceeding by saying, ‘I’m sorry.’ That doesn’t cut it,” Mr Fitzpatrick said. “This should never have happened.”

Outside court, Mr Broadwater told The Post-Standard of Syracuse the district attorney had personally apologised to before the court hearing.

“When he spoke to me about the wrong that was done to me, I couldn’t help but cry,” Mr Broadwater said.

“The relief that a district attorney of that magnitude would side with me in this case, it’s so profound, I don’t know what to say.”

Mr Broadwater, who has worked as a trash hauler and a handyman in the years since his release from prison in 1999, told The Associated Press that the rape conviction had blighted his job prospects and his relationships with friends and family members.

Even after he married a woman who believed in his innocence, Mr Broadwater never wanted to have children.

He will now be struck from the sex offender’s register.

Ms Sebold’s publishers Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster, told The Independent the author had no comment.

The fate of the film adaptation of Lucky is unclear.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Entertainment

Conviction overturned in 1981 rape of ‘The Lovely Bones’ author Alice Sebold

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A rape conviction at the center of a memoir by award-winning author Alice Sebold has been overturned because of what authorities determined were serious flaws with the 1982 prosecution and concerns the wrong man had been sent to jail.

Anthony Broadwater, who spent 16 years in prison, was cleared Monday by a judge of raping Sebold when she was a student at Syracuse University, an assault she wrote about in her 1999 memoir, “Lucky.”

Broadwater shook with emotion, sobbing as his head fell into his hands, as the judge in Syracuse vacated his conviction at the request of prosecutors.

“I’ve been crying tears of joy and relief the last couple of days,” Broadwater, 61, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “I’m so elated, the cold can’t even keep me cold.”

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told state Supreme Court Justice Gordon Cuffy at the court hearing that Broadwater’s prosecution was an injustice, The Post-Standard of Syracuse reported.

“I’m not going to sully this proceeding by saying, ‘I’m sorry.’ That doesn’t cut it,” Fitzpatrick said. “This should never have happened.”

Sebold, 58, wrote in “Lucky” of being raped as a first-year student at Syracuse in May 1981 and then spotting a Black man in the street months later that she was sure was her attacker.

“He was smiling as he approached. He recognized me. It was a stroll in the park to him; he had met an acquaintance on the street,” wrote Sebold, who is white. “‘Hey, girl,’ he said. ‘Don’t I know you from somewhere?’”

She said she didn’t respond: “I looked directly at him. Knew his face had been the face over me in the tunnel.”

Sebold went to police, but she didn’t know the man’s name and an initial sweep of the area failed to locate him. An officer suggested the man in the street must have been Broadwater, who had supposedly been seen in the area. Sebold gave Broadwater the pseudonym Gregory Madison in her book.

After Broadwater was arrested, though, Sebold failed to identify him in a police lineup, picking a different man as her attacker because “the expression in his eyes told me that if we were alone, if there were no wall between us, he would call me by name and then kill me.”

Broadwater was nonetheless tried and convicted in 1982 based largely on two pieces of evidence. On the witness stand, Sebold identified him as her rapist. And an expert said microscopic hair analysis had tied Broadwater to the crime. That type of analysis has since been deemed junk science by the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction,” Broadwater’s attorney, David Hammond, told the Post-Standard.

Sebold did not respond to messages seeking comment sent through her publisher and her literary agency.

Broadwater remained on New York’s sex offender registry after finishing his prison term in 1999.

Broadwater, who has worked as a trash hauler and a handyman in the years since his release from prison, told the AP that the rape conviction blighted his job prospects and his relationships with friends and family members.

Even after he married a woman who believed in his innocence, Broadwater never wanted to have children.

“We had a big argument sometimes about kids, and I told her I could never, ever allow kids to come into this world with a stigma on my back,” he said.

In addition to “Lucky,” Sebold is the author of the novels “The Lovely Bones” and “The Almost Moon.”

“The Lovely Bones,” about the rape and murder of a teenage girl, won the American Booksellers Association Book of the Year Award for Adult Fiction in 2003 and was made into a movie starring Saoirse Ronan, Susan Sarandon and Stanley Tucci.

“Lucky” was also in the process of being filmed, and it was thanks to the film project itself that Broadwater’s conviction was overturned after four decades.

Tim Mucciante, who has a production company called Red Badge Films, had signed on as executive producer of the adaptation but became skeptical of Broadwater’s guilt when the first draft of the script came out because it differed so much from the book.

“I started poking around and trying to figure out what really happened here,” Mucciante told the AP on Tuesday.

Mucciante said that after dropping out of the project earlier this year he hired a private investigator, who put him in touch with Hammond, of Syracuse-based CDH Law, who brought in fellow defense lawyer Melissa Swartz, of Cambareri & Brenneck.

Hammond and Swartz credited Fitzpatrick for taking a personal interest in the case and understanding that scientific advances have cast doubt on the use of hair analysis, the only type of forensic evidence that was produced at Broadwater’s trial to link him to Sebold’s rape.

The fate of the film adaptation of “Lucky” was unclear in light of Broadwater’s exoneration. A message seeking comment was left with its new executive producer, Jonathan Bronfman of Toronto-based JoBro Productions.

Sebold wrote in “Lucky” that when she was informed that she’d picked someone other than the man she’d previously identified as her rapist, she said the two men looked “almost identical.”

She wrote that she realized the defense would be that: “A panicked white girl saw a black man on the street. He spoke familiarly to her and in her mind she connected this to her rape. She was accusing the wrong man.”

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Bill Cosby Freed From Prison After Sexual Assault Conviction Overturned By Pennsylvania Supreme Court – CBS Philly

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PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) — Bill Cosby has been freed from prison after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction Wednesday. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said that they found an agreement with a previous prosecutor that prevented him from being charged in the case.

The country watched — some cheering, some dismayed — as Cosby was shackled and lead into prison more than two years ago. Just this afternoon, he was released from the State Correctional Institution Phoenix with little fanfare

Cosby has served more than two years of a three- to 10-year sentence at a state prison near Philadelphia. He had vowed to serve all 10 years rather than acknowledge any remorse over the 2004 encounter with accuser Andrea Constand.

The opinions of the court blasted light on a press release issued by former District Attorney Bruce Castor more than 15 years ago. The document essentially promised that Cosby would not be prosecuted.

Years later, Cosby then testified in a deposition and did not take the Fifth Amendment. He made incriminating statements, and those statements became the foundation of prosecutions against Cosby as it related to the accused indecent aggravated assault of Constand.

Legal experts say the prosecution was essentially a violation of a written contract between the DA’s office and Cosby.

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office released a statement on Cosby’s release:

The majority decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court orders the release of William H. Cosby Jr. from state prison. He was found guilty by a jury and now goes free on a procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime. I want to commend Cosby’s victim Andrea Constand for her bravery in coming forward and remaining steadfast throughout this long ordeal, as well as all of the other women who have shared similar experiences. My hope is that this decision will not dampen the reporting of sexual assaults by victims. Prosecutors in my office will continue to follow the evidence wherever and to whomever it leads. We still believe that no one is above the law—including those who are rich, famous and powerful.

The 83-year-old Cosby, who was once beloved as “America’s Dad,” was convicted of drugging and molesting Constand at his suburban estate.

Constand and her legal counsel released a statement on the court’s ruling Wednesday evening.

“Today’s majority decision regarding Bill Cosby is not only disappointing but of concern in that it may discourage those who seek justice for sexual assault in the criminal justice system from reporting or participating in the prosecution of the assailant or may force a victim to choose between filing either a criminal or civil action.

On the one hand, the Court acknowledged that the former District Attorney’s decision to not prosecute Mr. Cosby was not a formal immunity agreement and constituted at best a unilateral exercise of prosecutorial discretion not to prosecute at the time, but nevertheless precluded a future prosecution, which included additional evidence developed in the civil case. the Supreme Court acknowledged that it was bound by the lower court’s credibility findings, including that Andrea Constand and her civil counsel, Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz, were not privy to any discussions between the former prosecutor and Mr. Cosby or his then criminal counsel, let alone signatories to any agreement of any kind. We were not consulted or asked our thoughts by Mr. Castor concerning any agreements concerning immunity or anything, and we were not made aware if there were any such discussions. The press release had no meaning or significance to us in 2005 other than being a press release circulated by the then District Attorney.

Once again, we remain grateful to those women who came forward to tell their stores, to DA Kevin Steele and the excellent prosecutors who achieved a conviction at trial, despite the ultimate outcome which resulted from a procedural technicality, and we urge all victims to have their voices heard. We do not intend to make any further comment.

In the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s opinion, the judges “do not question the discretion that is vested in prosecutors ‘over whether charges should be brought in any given case,’” but rather the court examined if the prosecution performed within the bounds of due process.

Legal experts say the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s opinion reveals parts of the Cosby prosecution were braced on a legal house of cards. Prosecutors who took the legendary comedian and actor to trial twice say the ruling is an unfortunate technicality.

Cosby tweeted out a statement, maintaining his innocence and thanking supporters.

“I have never changed my stance nor my story. I have always maintained my innocence. Thank you to all my fans, supporters and friends who stood by me through this ordeal. Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for upholding the rule of law,” he tweeted.

Cosby’s return to his Elkins Park home was unceremonious in many ways but did inspire those passionate for and against the comedian to visit the property.

Credit: Getty Images

In a T-shirt ode to his Philadelphia high school, Central graduate Cosby returned from prison, yielding comment to his attorneys and representative.

“He said they was ringing his cell, they was just knocking on the walls the inmates, they said ‘you’re free! Get up! Get up.’ And he was just so excited,” spokesperson Andrew Wyatt said.

Nearly 60 women accused Cosby of sexual assault. Attorney Gloria Allred represented several of the women and says her heart breaks for them.

Phylicia Rashad, who played Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show, took to social media after hearing the news Cosby would be released.

“FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted — a miscarriage of justice is corrected,” Rashad tweeted.

He was charged in late 2015, when a prosecutor armed with newly unsealed evidence — Cosby’s damaging deposition from her lawsuit — arrested him days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired.

The trial judge had allowed just one other accuser to testify at Cosby’s first trial, when the jury deadlocked. However, he then allowed five other accusers to testify at the retrial about their experiences with Cosby in the 1980s.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said that testimony tainted the trial, even though a lower appeals court had found it appropriate to show a signature pattern of drugging and molesting women.

Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era, so the reversal could make prosecutors wary of calling other accusers in similar cases. The law on prior bad act testimony varies by state, though, and the ruling only holds sway in Pennsylvania.

Prosecutors did not immediately say if they would appeal or seek to try Cosby for a third time.

The justices voiced concern not just about sex assault cases, but what they saw as the judiciary’s increasing tendency to allow testimony that crosses the line into character attacks. The law allows the testimony only in limited cases, including to show a crime pattern so specific it serves to identify the perpetrator.

In New York, the judge presiding over last year’s trial of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose case had sparked the explosion of the #MeToo movement in 2017, let four other accusers testify. Weinstein was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He is now facing separate charges in California.

In Cosby’s case, one of his appellate lawyers said prosecutors put on vague evidence about the uncharged conduct, including Cosby’s own recollections in his deposition about giving women alcohol or quaaludes before sexual encounters.

“The presumption of innocence just didn’t exist for him,” Jennifer Bonjean, the lawyer, argued to the court in December.

In May, Cosby was denied paroled after refusing to participate in sex offender programs during his nearly three years in state prison. He has long said he would resist the treatment programs and refuse to acknowledge wrongdoing even if it means serving the full 10-year sentence.

This is the first year he was eligible for parole under the three- to 10-year sentence handed down after his 2018 conviction.

Cosby spokesperson Andrew Wyatt called the parole board decision “appalling.”

Prosecutors said Cosby repeatedly used his fame and “family man” persona to manipulate young women, holding himself out as a mentor before betraying them.

Cosby, a groundbreaking Black actor who grew up in public housing in Philadelphia, made a fortune estimated at $400 million during his 50 years in the entertainment industry. His trademark clean comedy and homespun wisdom fueled popular TV shows, books and standup acts.

He fell from favor in his later years as he lectured the Black community about family values, but was attempting a comeback when he was arrested.

“There was a built-in level of trust because of his status in the entertainment industry and because he held himself out as a public moralist,” Assistant District Attorney Adrienne Jappe, of suburban Montgomery County, argued to the justices.

Cosby had invited Constand to an estate he owns in Pennsylvania the night she said he drugged and sexually assaulted her.

Constand, a former professional basketball player who worked at his alma mater, went to police a year later. The other accusers knew Cosby through the entertainment industry and did not go to police.

CBS3’s Joe Holden, Natasha Brown and Alexandria Hoff contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.



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Bill Cosby Freed From Prison After Sexual Assault Conviction Overturned By Pennsylvania Supreme Court – CBS Philly

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PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) — Bill Cosby has been freed from prison after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction Wednesday. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said today that they found an agreement with a previous prosecutor that prevented him from being charged in the case.

The country watched — some cheering, some dismayed — as Cosby was shackled and lead into prison more than two years ago. Just this afternoon, he was released from the State Correctional Institution Phoenix with little fanfare

Cosby has served more than two years of a three- to 10-year sentence at a state prison near Philadelphia. He had vowed to serve all 10 years rather than acknowledge any remorse over the 2004 encounter with accuser Andrea Constand.

The opinions of the court blasted light on a press release issued by former District Attorney Bruce Castor more than 15 years ago. The document essentially promised that Cosby would not be prosecuted.

Years later, Cosby then testified in a deposition and did not take the Fifth Amendment. He made incriminating statements, and those statements became the foundation of prosecutions against Cosby as it related to the accused indecent aggravated assault of Constand.

Legal experts say the prosecution was essentially a violation of a written contract between the DA’s office and Cosby.

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office released a statement on Cosby’s release:

The majority decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court orders the release of William H. Cosby Jr. from state prison. He was found guilty by a jury and now goes free on a procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime. I want to commend Cosby’s victim Andrea Constand for her bravery in coming forward and remaining steadfast throughout this long ordeal, as well as all of the other women who have shared similar experiences. My hope is that this decision will not dampen the reporting of sexual assaults by victims. Prosecutors in my office will continue to follow the evidence wherever and to whomever it leads. We still believe that no one is above the law—including those who are rich, famous and powerful.

The 83-year-old Cosby, who was once beloved as “America’s Dad,” was convicted of drugging and molesting Constand at his suburban estate.

Constand and her legal counsel released a statement on the court’s ruling Wednesday evening.

“Today’s majority decision regarding Bill Cosby is not only disappointing but of concern in that it may discourage those who seek justice for sexual assault in the criminal justice system from reporting or participating in the prosecution of the assailant or may force a victim to choose between filing either a criminal or civil action.

On the one hand, the Court acknowledged that the former District Attorney’s decision to not prosecute Mr. Cosby was not a formal immunity agreement and constituted at best a unilateral exercise of prosecutorial discretion not to prosecute at the time, but nevertheless precluded a future prosecution, which included additional evidence developed in the civil case. the Supreme Court acknowledged that it was bound by the lower court’s credibility findings, including that Andrea Constand and her civil counsel, Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz, were not privy to any discussions between the former prosecutor and Mr. Cosby or his then criminal counsel, let alone signatories to any agreement of any kind. We were not consulted or asked our thoughts by Mr. Castor concerning any agreements concerning immunity or anything, and we were not made aware if there were any such discussions. The press release had no meaning or significance to us in 2005 other than being a press release circulated by the then District Attorney.

Once again, we remain grateful to those women who came forward to tell their stores, to DA Kevin Steele and the excellent prosecutors who achieved a conviction at trial, despite the ultimate outcome which resulted from a procedural technicality, and we urge all victims to have their voices heard. We do not intend to make any further comment.

In the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s opinion, the judges “do not question the discretion that is vested in prosecutors ‘over whether charges should be brought in any given case,’” but rather the court examined if the prosecution performed within the bounds of due process.

Legal experts say the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s opinion reveals parts of the Cosby prosecution were braced on a legal house of cards. Prosecutors who took the legendary comedian and actor to trial twice say the ruling is an unfortunate technicality.

Cosby tweeted out a statement, maintaining his innocence and thanking supporters.

“I have never changed my stance nor my story. I have always maintained my innocence. Thank you to all my fans, supporters and friends who stood by me through this ordeal. Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for upholding the rule of law,” he tweeted.

Cosby’s return to his Elkins Park home was unceremonious in many ways but did inspire those passionate for and against the comedian to visit the property.

Credit: Getty Images

In a T-shirt ode to his Philadelphia high school, Central graduate Cosby returned from prison, yielding comment to his attorneys and representative.

“He said they was ringing his cell, they was just knocking on the walls the inmates, they said ‘you’re free! Get up! Get up.’ And he was just so excited,” spokesperson Andrew Wyatt said.

Nearly 60 women accused Cosby of sexual assault. Attorney Gloria Allred represented several of the women and says her heart breaks for them.

Phylicia Rashad, who played Clair Huxtable on The Cosby Show, took to social media after hearing the news Cosby would be released.

“FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted — a miscarriage of justice is corrected,” Rashad tweeted.

He was charged in late 2015, when a prosecutor armed with newly unsealed evidence — Cosby’s damaging deposition from her lawsuit — arrested him days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired.

The trial judge had allowed just one other accuser to testify at Cosby’s first trial, when the jury deadlocked. However, he then allowed five other accusers to testify at the retrial about their experiences with Cosby in the 1980s.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said that testimony tainted the trial, even though a lower appeals court had found it appropriate to show a signature pattern of drugging and molesting women.

Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era, so the reversal could make prosecutors wary of calling other accusers in similar cases. The law on prior bad act testimony varies by state, though, and the ruling only holds sway in Pennsylvania.

Prosecutors did not immediately say if they would appeal or seek to try Cosby for a third time.

The justices voiced concern not just about sex assault cases, but what they saw as the judiciary’s increasing tendency to allow testimony that crosses the line into character attacks. The law allows the testimony only in limited cases, including to show a crime pattern so specific it serves to identify the perpetrator.

In New York, the judge presiding over last year’s trial of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose case had sparked the explosion of the #MeToo movement in 2017, let four other accusers testify. Weinstein was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He is now facing separate charges in California.

In Cosby’s case, one of his appellate lawyers said prosecutors put on vague evidence about the uncharged conduct, including Cosby’s own recollections in his deposition about giving women alcohol or quaaludes before sexual encounters.

“The presumption of innocence just didn’t exist for him,” Jennifer Bonjean, the lawyer, argued to the court in December.

In May, Cosby was denied paroled after refusing to participate in sex offender programs during his nearly three years in state prison. He has long said he would resist the treatment programs and refuse to acknowledge wrongdoing even if it means serving the full 10-year sentence.

This is the first year he was eligible for parole under the three- to 10-year sentence handed down after his 2018 conviction.

Cosby spokesperson Andrew Wyatt called the parole board decision “appalling.”

Prosecutors said Cosby repeatedly used his fame and “family man” persona to manipulate young women, holding himself out as a mentor before betraying them.

Cosby, a groundbreaking Black actor who grew up in public housing in Philadelphia, made a fortune estimated at $400 million during his 50 years in the entertainment industry. His trademark clean comedy and homespun wisdom fueled popular TV shows, books and standup acts.

He fell from favor in his later years as he lectured the Black community about family values, but was attempting a comeback when he was arrested.

“There was a built-in level of trust because of his status in the entertainment industry and because he held himself out as a public moralist,” Assistant District Attorney Adrienne Jappe, of suburban Montgomery County, argued to the justices.

Cosby had invited Constand to an estate he owns in Pennsylvania the night she said he drugged and sexually assaulted her.

Constand, a former professional basketball player who worked at his alma mater, went to police a year later. The other accusers knew Cosby through the entertainment industry and did not go to police.

CBS3’s Joe Holden, Natasha Brown and Alexandria Hoff contributed to this report.

Copyright 2021 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.



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Bill Cosby freed from prison, his sex conviction overturned

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Pennsylvania’s highest court threw out Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction and released him from prison Wednesday in a stunning reversal of fortune for the comedian once known as “America’s Dad,” ruling that the prosecutor who brought the case was bound by his predecessor’s agreement not to charge Cosby.

Cosby, 83, flashed the V-for-victory sign to a helicopter overhead as he trudged into his suburban Philadelphia home after serving nearly three years of a three- to 10-year sentence for drugging and violating Temple University sports administrator Andrea Constand in 2004.

The former “Cosby Show” star — the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era — had no immediate comment.

Cosby was arrested in 2015, when a district attorney armed with newly unsealed evidence — the comic’s damaging deposition in a lawsuit brought by Constand — filed charges against him just days before the 12-year statute of limitations was about to run out.

Previous coverage of the Cosby case

But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said Wednesday that District Attorney Kevin Steele, who made the decision to arrest Cosby, was obligated to stand by his predecessor’s promise not to charge Cosby, though there was no evidence that agreement was ever put in writing.

Justice David Wecht, writing for a split court, said Cosby had relied on the previous district attorney’s decision not to charge him when the comedian gave his potentially incriminating testimony in Constand’s civil case.

The court called Cosby’s subsequent arrest “an affront to fundamental fairness, particularly when it results in a criminal prosecution that was forgone for more than a decade.” It said justice and “fair play and decency” require that the district attorney’s office stand by the decision of the previous DA.

The justices said that overturning the conviction and barring any further prosecution “is the only remedy that comports with society’s reasonable expectations of its elected prosecutors and our criminal justice system.”

As Cosby was promptly set free from the state prison in suburban Montgomery County and driven home, his appeals lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, said he should never have been charged.

“District attorneys can’t change it up simply because of their political motivation,” she said, adding that Cosby remains in excellent health, apart from being legally blind.

In a statement, Steele said Cosby went free “on a procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime.” He commended Constand for coming forward and added: “My hope is that this decision will not dampen the reporting of sexual assaults by victims.”

Constand and her lawyer did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

“FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted — a miscarriage of justice is corrected!” the actor’s “Cosby Show” co-star Phylicia Rashad tweeted.

“I am furious to hear this news,” actor Amber Tamblyn, a founder of Time’s Up, an advocacy group for victims of sexual assault, said on Twitter. “I personally know women who this man drugged and raped while unconscious. Shame on the court and this decision.”

Four Supreme Court justices formed the majority that ruled in Cosby’s favor, while three others dissented in whole or in part.

Peter Goldberger, a suburban Philadelphia lawyer with an expertise in criminal appeals, said prosecutors could ask the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for reargument or reconsideration, but it would be a very long shot.

“I can’t imagine that with such a lengthy opinion, with a thoughtful concurring opinion and a thoughtful dissenting opinion, that you could honestly say they made a simple mistake that would change their minds if they point it out to them,” Goldberger said.

Even though Cosby was charged only with the assault on Constand, the judge at his trial allowed five other accusers to testify that they, too, were similarly victimized by Cosby in the 1980s. Prosecutors called them as witnesses to establish what they said was a pattern of behavior on Cosby’s part.

Cosby’s lawyers had argued on appeal that the use of the five additional accusers was improper. But the Pennsylvania high court did not weigh in on the question, saying it was moot, given the finding that Cosby should not have been prosecuted in the first place.

In New York, the judge at last year’s trial of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose case helped sparked the #MeToo movement in 2017, let four other accusers testify. Weinstein was convicted and sentenced to 23 years in prison.

In sentencing Cosby, the trial judge had ruled him a sexually violent predator who could not be safely allowed out in public and needed to report to authorities for the rest of his life.

In May, Cosby was denied parole after refusing to participate in sex offender programs behind bars. He said he would resist the treatment programs and refuse to acknowledge wrongdoing even if it meant serving the full 10 years.

The groundbreaking Black actor grew up in public housing in Philadelphia and made a fortune estimated at $400 million during his 50 years in the entertainment industry that included the TV shows “I Spy,” “The Cosby Show” and “Fat Albert,” along with comedy albums and a multitude of television commercials.

The suburban Philadelphia prosecutor who originally looked into Constand’s allegations, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor, considered the case flawed because Constand waited a year to come forward and stayed in contact with Cosby afterward. Castor declined to prosecute and instead encouraged Constand to sue for damages.

Questioned under oath as part of that lawsuit, Cosby said he used to offer quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with. He eventually settled with Constand for $3.4 million.

Portions of the deposition later became public at the request of The Associated Press and spelled Cosby’s downfall, opening the floodgates on accusations from other women and destroying the comic’s good-guy reputation and career. More than 60 women came forward to say Cosby violated them.

The AP does not typically identify sexual assault victims without their permission, which Constand has granted.

Cosby, in the deposition, acknowledged giving quaaludes to a 19-year-old woman before having sex with her at a Las Vegas hotel in 1976. Cosby called the encounter consensual.

On Wednesday, the woman, Therese Serignese, now 64, said the court ruling “takes my 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. 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.

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This story has been corrected to show that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did not express an opinion on the use of additional accusers

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Follow Maryclaire Dale on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Maryclairedale



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Entertainment

Bill Cosby to be released after sexual assault conviction overturned by Pennsylvania Supreme Court

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Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court vacated the sexual assault conviction of Bill Cosby on Wednesday and ordered his release from prison after finding that he was denied protection against self-incrimination.

The court said that a prosecutor’s decision not to charge Cosby, 83, opened the door for him to speak freely in a lawsuit against him — and that testimony was key in his conviction years later by another prosecutor.

Cosby was convicted in 2018 of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004, and was serving a three- to 10-year sentence. He has served two years of the sentence.

The state Supreme Court said Cosby cannot be retried on the same charges.

“When an unconditional charging decision is made publicly and with the intent to induce action and reliance by the defendant, and when the defendant does so to his detriment (and in some instances upon the advice of counsel), denying the defendant the benefit of that decision is an affront to fundamental fairness, particularly when it results in a criminal prosecution that was foregone for more than a decade,” the high court ruled.

“For these reasons, Cosby’s convictions and judgment of sentence are vacated, and he is discharged.”

The prosecution of Cosby was one of the first major milestones of the #MeToo movement, as women came forward with their tales of unwanted sexual advances and harassment in the workplace.

Cosby’s spokesman Andrew Wyatt thanked the comedian’s legal team and Pennsylvania Supreme Court, calling Wednesday’s ruling a moment of justice for Black Americans.

“This is the justice Mr. Cosby has been fighting for,” Wyatt said in a statement. “They saw the light. He waived his Fifth Amendment right and settled out of court. He was given a deal and he had immunity. He should have never been charged.”

It wasn’t immediately clear when exactly Cosby would be released from SCI Phoenix, where he’s currently housed as inmate No. NN7687.

“The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections is in receipt of today’s court decision,” a Department of Corrections representative said. “Work is underway to complete the necessary paperwork, and Mr. Cosby will be released as soon as practical.”

The entertainer once dubbed “America’s Dad” was sent to state prison following his 2018 conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand.

She testified that Cosby assaulted her at his Pennsylvania home in 2004 after she came to him for career advice.

But Bruce Castor, the Montgomery district attorney at the time, declined to press criminal charges against the famed comedian and actor, “thereby allowing Cosby to be forced to testify in a subsequent civil action,” according to the high court.

“Unable to invoke any right not to testify in the civil proceedings, Cosby relied upon the district attorney’s declination and proceeded to provide four sworn depositions. During those depositions, Cosby made several incriminating statements,” according to the high court opinion.

“D.A. Castor’s successors did not feel bound by his decision, and decided to prosecute Cosby notwithstanding that prior undertaking. The fruits of Cosby’s reliance upon D.A. Castor’s decision — Cosby’s sworn inculpatory testimony — were then used by D.A. Castor’s successors against Cosby at Cosby’s criminal trial.”

In a rare jailhouse interview in 2019, Cosby said he wouldn’t offer any remorse for his actions — even if that would’ve impacted a parole board’s decision.

“When I come up for parole, they’re not going to hear me say that I have remorse. I was there. I don’t care what group of people come along and talk about this when they weren’t there. They don’t know,” Cosby told the news outlet BlackPressUSA.com.

This is a developing story, please refresh here for updates.

David K. Li is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.

Alec Hernandez and Diana Dasrath contributed.

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