Bill Cosby 2018 Conviction Vacated By State Supreme Court

Recorded on June 30, 2021.

Bill Cosby is a free man after nearly three years in prison following a decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, vacating his 2018 sexual assault conviction. Attorney Paul Harding of Martin, Harding & Mazzotti, LLP is on the radio with WIZN to help explain the situation from a legal perspective.

For more information, please contact us at Martin, Harding & Mazzotti, LLP to learn more, today!

Joe: 106.7 WIZN . It’s Def Leppard, “Love Bites,” heard U2 before that. I’m Joe Vega, taking you through your Wednesday, “Rock and Ride Home,” and, of course, the big news of the day is Bill Cosby about to be a free man after nearly three years in prison following a decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, vacating his 2018 conviction. And so, I decided to get Paul Harding from Martin, Harding & Mazzotti on the phone. How are you doing, Paul?

Paul: Hey, good morning…good afternoon, Joe. Boy, I’m getting lost here. How are you?

Joe: No, it’s okay. It’s raining so much today, Paul, who could tell? Is it morning or afternoon? I mean…

Paul: That’s right. Getting dark quick here. Yeah.

Joe: So, the reason why I’m calling you is because I don’t know if you’ve heard about the big news today was the Bill Cosby decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. They vacated his 2018 conviction of three charges of aggravated indecent assault.

Paul: Yeah. So that’s big news. And I knew that was hanging out there and they came down today. So what happened is so he’s convicted, right? But prior to his conviction, he had got a deal in writing from a prosecutor that said, “Hey, we won’t prosecute you criminally if you tell the truth civilly.” Meaning, some of the victims had sued him civilly for money damages, he got that in writing, so he told the truth as one should, but he apparently was not gonna tell the truth if he thought it would expose him to criminal charges. He told the truth, he paid money civilly, and then they came at him criminally saying, “No, we’re not gonna uphold that agreement.” Well, court came down today and said, “Nope, that agreement is being upheld, we’re throwing out your conviction just from 2018.

Joe: So this just applies to the one particular case, right?

Paul: Yeah, but huge statute limitation issues, so they only had a few of the defendants that were even gonna ever qualify to bring a criminal charge because it does have a statute limitation. So, you know, it’s just unfolding, I read it briefly today, but it appears that, again, he’s been in jail for a short time and he served some time, folks thought he wouldn’t serve any time. My guess is, is that today is gonna end Bill Cosby’s incarceration and that they may talk about reinstituting the charges, but my guess is we will not see that.

Joe: Okay. Well, there you go. All right. Thank you very much. Paul Harding from Martin, Harding and Mazzotti. Thanks for coming on, Paul.

Paul: Sure. Anytime, Joe. You take care.

Joe: And remember, you can Paul or any of the fine lawyers at Martin, Harding and Mazzotti at any time at 1800LAW1010, or go online to 1800law1010.com. All right. It is time for me to get on out of here, turn things over to Mel Allen. Now, he’s got music from Whitesnake and Tom Petty coming up next.