Bill Cosby lost his bid to overturn his sexual assault conviction Tuesday, as an appeals court upheld the verdict in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.
In its ruling, the Superior Court affirmed the right of prosecutors to call other accusers to bolster their case – the same issue fought over in movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault trial, now set for Jan. 6.
“This decision is a reminder that no one is above the law,” Andrea Constand, the victim in Cosby’s case, said in a text message to The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Cosby’s lawyers had complained that the judge had let five women testify at last year’s retrial in suburban Philadelphia, although he had let just one woman testify at the first trial in 2017.
But the Superior Court said their testimony was evidence of Cosby’s “unique sexual assault playbook” and undermined any claim that he “was unaware of or mistaken about victim’s failure to consent.”