June 30, 2021

Celebrity has its privileges.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overturned Bill Cosby's rape conviction because during his trial, other victims were called to the stand to affirm that he did the same thing to them.

Those victims were given a day in court but the prosecutor did not charge Cosby with those crimes. That, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said, was unfair to the defendant. Associated Press:

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.

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