Bill Cosby is reportedly exploring his legal chances with his legal team to file a potential lawsuit against the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania after he was released from prison.
According to reports, Bill Cosby, 83, is exploring his options after spending almost three years in jail before his sexual assault conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Cosby was found guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault in 2018 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The Supreme Court then ruled that a non-prosecution deal his legal team struck with a former district attorney in 2005 should have shielded him from prosecution.
Cosby and his wife Camille are not happy about the prison sentence and the time he served in prison and are exploring the option of filing a suit for abuse of process. An abuse of process is simply the improper use of a civil or criminal legal process for an unintended, malicious, or perverse reason.
Cosby might try to argue that the prosecutor intentionally misused the criminal justice process to prosecute him, despite the fact it meant breaking a promise to Cosby from the previous district attorney.
The decision of the Supreme Court to vacate the conviction flows back to the agreement between Cosby and then district attorney in Montgomery County, Bruce Castor. Constand went to Castor in 2005 alleging that Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted her at his home in 2004, and at that time, Castor declined to prosecute Cosby, stating there was not enough evidence to get a conviction. Castor, however, suggested to Constand to pursue a civil suit against Cosby.
Castor’s successor Kevin Steele brought charges against Cosby in 2015 arresting him days before the statute of limitations expired. Cosby testified, during the civil trial, that he gave Quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with. This piece of evidence was used against him in the criminal trial.
The Supreme Court held that the decision to use Cosby’s testimony against him deprived him of his Fifth Amendment rights.
