Joseph Ax

(Reuters] – Pennsylvania prosecutors said Monday that they asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to uphold the State Court decision which overturned Bill Cosby’s earlier sexual assault conviction.

In June, the comedian and actor, aged 84, was released from prison. This came three years after a jury found Constand guilty of drugging & molesting Andrea Constand. Constand was a former employee at Temple University’s Temple University home.

In a split verdict, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that Cosby shouldn’t have been charged after he reached a non-prosecution deal with his former district attorney over a decade prior to his arrest.

This decision reversed the most high-profile conviction for sexual misconduct since #MeToo began to expose it among men in power, and angered victims of sexual assault as well as their advocates.

Cosby, who was the father figure in “The Cosby Show,” once had the reputation of being “America’s Dad.” His family-friendly reputation was ruined after 50 women accused Cosby of numerous sexual assaults dating back to 1950.

Constand’s accusations were the only allegations that weren’t too outdated to allow criminal prosecution.

Cosby’s legal team argued in court that Bruce Castor, the Montgomery County district Attorney, had made a promise to not press charges. Castor made a statement that Castor had released at the time, announcing that no criminal charges would be brought.

Cosby couldn’t avoid the prosecution in civil case Constand had filed against him. Constand eventually paid a multimillion-dollar settlement.

Kevin Steele, the current District Attorney, was able to later charge Cosby with a 2015 indictment. This testimony included Cosby’s admission that he had given sedatives women.

According to the trial court, no non-prosecution agreements had been made. However, the state Supreme Court disagreed. It ruled that Cosby had relied heavily on Castor’s representation and that Steele’s prosecution was in violation Cosby’s right.

Steele stated Monday in a press release that the ruling, if it is not changed, will set dangerous precedents “because prosecutors’ statements now seem to create immunity.”

Andrew Wyatt, a spokesperson for Cosby called the petition a “pathetic, last-ditch attempt.”

The Montgomery County D.A. Wyatt stated in a statement that he asked Wyatt to ask the United States Supreme Court for the Constitution to be thrown out of the window to please the #MeToo crowd.

It seems unlikely that the petition will be granted. Although the U.S. Supreme Court accepts that only a fraction of cases are heard each year, Cosby’s case was decided in state courts, not federal.