Artist sues newly freed Bill Cosby over 1990 lodge encounter

By Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA: A outstanding Bill Cosby accuser filed go well with Thursday, October 14, 2021, towards the actor over a 1990 lodge room encounter in Atlantic City, New Jersey, earlier than the state’s two-year window to file older sexual assault claims expires.Los Angeles artist Lili Bernard informed The Associated Press she was prompted partly by Cosby’s latest launch from jail. The 84-year-old Cosby has been free since June, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his 2018 sexual assault conviction in one other case on procedural grounds.He had served greater than two years of a possible 10-year sentence.The 57-year-old Bernard says Cosby drugged and raped her in a lodge room after promising to mentor her on his top-ranked TV present. She was 26 on the time.New Jersey’s two-year window to file sexual assault lawsuits that might in any other case be thought of too previous to pursue closes subsequent month.”When Bill Cosby was released, it retraumatized me, it terrified me. I was really horrified for any woman or girl that would come into contact with him,” Bernard informed the AP. “The Pennsylvania Supreme Court let a predator back on the streets.”The Pennsylvania trial choose had categorized Cosby as a sexually violent predator topic to lifetime supervision, however that discovering turned moot when the conviction was overturned, leaving Cosby freed from any reporting necessities.Cosby’s spokesperson stated that so-called “look-back” home windows just like the one handed in New Jersey violate an individual’s due course of rights.”This is just another attempt to abuse the legal process, by opening up the flood gates for people who never presented an ounce of evidence,” spokesperson Andrew Wyatt stated, noting that Cosby maintains his innocence and would struggle allegations to “the highest court in these United States of America.”Prosecutors in suburban Philadelphia should determine quickly whether or not to attraction the reversal of his conviction of their case to the U.S. Supreme Court.A jury had convicted Cosby of sexually assaulting Temple University sports activities administrator Andrea Constand at his house in January 2004 after incapacitating her with three blue tablets. Cosby was arrested in 2015, days earlier than the 12-year statute of limitations expired.The state Supreme Court stated the case mustn’t have gone to trial as a result of Cosby believed he had a binding promise from an earlier prosecutor that he would by no means be charged.Cosby settled a civil lawsuit with Constand for $3.4 million. His insurer, after the conviction, settled a defamation lawsuit filed by seven accusers in Massachusetts for an undisclosed quantity.The AP usually doesn’t establish individuals who say they’re sexual assault victims with out their permission, which each Constand and Bernard have granted.