Bill Cosby went to jail because a Pennsylvania jury convicted him in April 2018 of three counts of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee he drugged and sexually assaulted at his home in 2004. He was sentenced that September to three to ten years in state prison. He served roughly three years before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated the conviction in June 2021 on due process grounds and ordered his release.
What Constand Said Happened
Andrea Constand was the director of operations for women’s basketball at Temple University, where Cosby was a prominent alumnus and trustee. She described their relationship as a mentorship, with Cosby offering to help her move into broadcasting. In January 2004, she visited his home in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania. She later reported that Cosby gave her pills that left her incapacitated and then sexually assaulted her while she was unable to resist or fully understand what was happening.
Constand reported the incident to Cheltenham police in January 2005, about a year later. The case went to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office, then led by Bruce Castor. Castor concluded he did not have enough evidence to secure a conviction and declined to file charges.1Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. William Henry Cosby Jr.
The Deal That Made a Later Prosecution Possible
Castor did more than pass on the case. He publicly announced his office would not prosecute Cosby, and he later testified his goal was to remove “for all time” the possibility of criminal charges. The strategy was deliberate. If Cosby could never be prosecuted, he could no longer invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and Constand’s attorneys could compel him to answer under oath in a civil suit. Castor wrote in a later email that he “intentionally and specifically bound the Commonwealth” to that non-prosecution decision for exactly that reason.1Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. William Henry Cosby Jr.
Constand filed her civil suit in March 2005. Cosby then sat for a deposition in 2005 and 2006, believing charges were off the table. His testimony was damaging. He admitted obtaining seven Quaalude prescriptions in the 1970s, said yes when asked whether he acquired the drug intending to give it to young women he wanted to have sex with, and acknowledged giving it to at least one specific woman. The case settled for $3.38 million in November 2006, and the deposition was sealed.
In July 2015, a federal judge unsealed portions of that deposition in response to a media request. Prosecutors in Montgomery County, now under different leadership, reopened the investigation. On December 30, 2015, they filed three felony charges, days before the twelve-year statute of limitations on the 2004 incident would have expired.2Office of Victim Advocate. Statute of Limitations and Retroactive Window
The Charges He Was Convicted Of
All three counts were filed under 18 Pa. C.S. ยง 3125, aggravated indecent assault, each pointing at a different legal theory for why the contact was criminal.3Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 18 Section 3125 – Aggravated Indecent Assault The first count alleged the assault happened without Constand’s consent. The second alleged she was unconscious or so impaired she did not know it was happening, which under Pennsylvania law means she could not legally consent. The third alleged Cosby drugged her without her understanding of the pills’ effects to prevent her from resisting, which the statute treats as its own basis for the charge. Each count is a second-degree felony carrying up to ten years in prison.
Why the Retrial Produced a Conviction
Cosby’s first trial ended in June 2017 with a hung jury. Jurors deliberated more than 52 hours across six days before telling the judge they were “hopelessly deadlocked,” and a mistrial was declared.1Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. William Henry Cosby Jr. At that trial, the judge had allowed only one additional woman to testify about a prior similar experience with Cosby.
For the April 2018 retrial, the judge raised that number to five. Pennsylvania’s evidence rules generally bar using past conduct to argue a person acted the same way on a given occasion, but they allow such evidence to show a common plan or pattern.4Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Rule of Evidence 404 – Character Evidence; Other Crimes, Wrongs, or Acts The five women described strikingly similar experiences: drinks or pills, followed by sexual contact while they were impaired. The court found all nineteen witnesses the prosecution proposed were relevant, but capped the number at five to balance fairness to the defendant. The jury convicted Cosby on all three counts.
Sentence and Prison
On September 25, 2018, the court sentenced Cosby to three to ten years in a state correctional facility, imposed a $25,000 fine plus prosecution costs, and classified him as a sexually violent predator, a Pennsylvania designation for offenders found to have a mental abnormality making them likely to reoffend.5Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code 42 Pa.C.S.A. 9799.24 – Assessments He served his time at SCI Phoenix, a state prison outside Philadelphia.
Why He Was Released
On June 30, 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated Cosby’s conviction and ordered his immediate release. The ruling did not decide whether he was guilty or innocent. It decided whether the prosecution should have happened at all.1Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. William Henry Cosby Jr.
The court traced the case back to Castor’s 2005 promise. Castor had publicly committed not to prosecute Cosby, specifically so Cosby would lose his Fifth Amendment protection and be forced to testify in the civil case. Cosby relied on that promise, gave the deposition, and made the admissions about Quaaludes. A later district attorney then used that testimony as the centerpiece of a criminal case. The court held that sequence violated Cosby’s due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment: when a prosecutor makes an unconditional promise of non-prosecution and the defendant gives up his right to silence in reliance on it, fundamental fairness requires the government to keep its word.
The court called the remedy “both severe and rare” but said nothing less would work. Cosby was discharged, and any future prosecution on those specific charges was permanently barred. He walked out of prison the same day the decision came down.