A prominent Bill Cosby accuser filed suit against the actor on October 14 for a 1990 hotel room encounter in Atlantic City, New Jersey, before the state’s two-year window to file chronic sexual assault claims ended.
Los Angeles artist Lily Bernard told The Associated Press that she was inspired by Cosby’s recent release from prison. Cosby, 84, is free from June, When the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Overturned His 2018 Sexual Assault Conviction on procedural grounds in another case.
he had served More than two years of a possible 10-year sentence.
Ms. Bernard, 57, says Cosby drugged and raped her in a hotel room after promising to mentor her on his top TV show. She was 26 years old at that time.
New Jersey’s two-year window to file sexual harassment lawsuits that would otherwise be considered too old to pursue will close next month.
“When Bill Cosby releasedIt traumatized me again, it terrified me. I was really terrified for any woman or girl who would come into contact with him,” Ms. Bernard told the AP. “The Pennsylvania Supreme Court allowed a predator back on the streets.”
A Pennsylvania trial judge had classified Cosby as a sexually violent predator, subject to lifelong supervision, but this finding became controversial when the conviction was overturned, freeing Cosby from any reporting requirements. Gaya.
A Cosby spokesperson said the so-called “look-back” window such as the one passed in New Jersey infringes on a person’s due process rights.
“This is yet another attempt to abuse the legal process, by opening the floodgates for those who have never produced evidence,” spokesman Andrew Wyatt said, noting that Cosby maintains his innocence and that “the Supreme Court I will fight the allegations. This is the United States. “
Prosecutors in suburban Philadelphia will soon have to decide whether to appeal their case to the US Supreme Court to overturn their sentence.
A jury indicted Cosby of sexual assault in January 2004 after disabling him with three blue pills at the home of Temple University sports administrator Andrea Constand. Cosby was arrested in 2015, a few days before the expiry of the 12-year statute of limitations.
The state Supreme Court said the case should not be heard because Cosby believed he had a binding promise from an earlier prosecutor that he would never be charged.
Cosby settled a civil lawsuit with Ms. Constand for $3.4 million. His insurer, following the conviction, settled a defamation suit filed by seven defendants in Massachusetts for an undisclosed amount.
The AP does not generally identify people who say they have been victims of sexual assault without their permission, which both Ms. Constand and Ms. Bernard have provided.
.