Thread by @KlasfeldReports

Bill Cosby's appeal to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is about to begin.

Watch LIVE with me for @LawCrimeNews lawandcrime.com/live-trials/li…

The Keystone State's Chief Justice Saylor calls the case.

Jennifer Bonjean is up first for Cosby, claiming the prosecution chose to indict her client's "entire life."

The crux of the appeal is the reliance of "prior bad act" evidence, other than the ones charged.

Bonjean argues this turned the case to a trial on Cosby's character.

Justice Dougherty questions Cosby's lawyer about why he didn't invoke his Fifth Amendment over a deposition.

Bonjean: "He believed that in order to not be prosecuted that this [was] part of the agreement."

Bonjean argues that the deposition should have been off the table.

Justice Baer says he "tends to agree" that prior bad act evidence was prejudicial to Cosby, but he asks whether it was an abuse of discretion.

Bonjean says the admission of five prior bad act evidence were not admitted for a non-propensity purpose.

"The prior bad acts were general in nature" because they involved sexual misconduct and intoxicants, Bonjean says.

Justice Debra Todd questions Ms. Bonjean:

If admitting prior bad acts was error, was it harmless error?

Bonjean unsurprisingly replies that it was not, noting that the first jury where such evidence was not admitted could not reach a unanimous verdict.

Justice Dougherty turns to the argument that Cosby's deposition should have been suppressed:

Essentially, he notes Cosby as a celebrity had more resources, savvy and familiarity with the legal system than the average person—and should have known his 5th Amendment rights.

Bonjean: We can't wrap our head around why someone would sit for a deposition with a criminal prosecution looming in such a serious matter.

To her, Bonjean says, it suggests that Cosby thought there was no prosecution looming.

Bonjean on the prior bad acts:

"Mr. Cosby did not face any of these accusations prior to the charged offense."

The Commonwealth's lawyer Adrienne Jappe Falin is up first, tackling the prior bad act issue.

Adrienne Jappe on Bill Cosby:

"His plan was to intoxicate young women to eliminate consent."

ADA:

"It was the mentor-mentee relationship."

"Perhaps it is true that 50% of sexual assaults are drug-induced sexual assaults... but your honor, the defendant engaged in a pattern of seeking out young women"

Justice Dougherty mentioned one of the women in the prior bad acts did not allege sexual assault.

ADA describes this as the incident of Maud Lise-Lotte Lublin, where Cosby invited a 23-year-old to sit between his legs and stroking her hair.

It was untoward, she says.

Moreover, the ADA calls it a pattern of behavior and signature act.

ADA says the prior bad act evidence presented in Cosby's case is "nothing different" than what is done in similar cases.

"The defendant was claiming consent. That was the defense. By implication, he was claiming that he was mistaken" in reading her consent.

Justice Debra Todd disputes that:

Cosby argued that there was consent, not that he was mistaken in that view.

She asks: "Why did you need prior bad acts evidence at all?"

The ADA says such evidence was needed to prove Andrea Constand's lack of consent.

"In terms of consent, there was no other corroboration of her testimony."

ADA on how old the claims are: "There has never been a case that unequivocally says 10 years is too long, 20 years is too long."

"Here, there are abundant similarities" among the bad acts.

She notes other cases have allowed in such evidence from long ago.

ADA notes that the prior bad act evidence must be considered in context.

"Here we have a recurring sequence of events."

"The case law makes clear that you must consider them all in relation to each other."

"I want to stress, you don't look at these in isolation."

Justice Dougherty says the trial judge allowed the court to choose any five.

ADA says that's not correct.

The judge said the evidence was all relevant, but he weighed the probative value against unfair prejudice, ADA adds.

Justice Baer asks whether the Commonwealth advocated putting 19 prior bad acts into evidence.

The ADA answers yes.

(The judge admitted up to five.)

Baer asks whether there would have been any point where such evidence would have prevented a bad trial.

ADA: Other cases in Pennsylvania have allowed more prior bad acts (PBA), citing one abuse case that had six PBAs and another with more than a dozen.

ADA: "Here, we only have five prior bad act victims."

She says that even if the court finds "for some reason" that admitting them was error they should find it was harmless.

PA Chief Justice Saylor: If that's true, why did you need the five witnesses?

ADA: We knew the defense would "relentlessly and ruthlessly" attack the woman's credibility, and in fact, they did.

Cosby claimed he relied upon a supposed promise in a press release by ex-DA Bruce Castor declining prosecution.

Addressing that argument, Justice Wecht asks what the ramifications of this case are "if your office's word is not its bond"?

ADA Robert M. Falin notes the press release itself contained an important qualification: “District Attorney Castor cautions all parties to this matter that he will reconsider this decision should the need arise.”

Justice Debra Todd asks whether Cosby not invoking his Fifth Amendment is an indicia that he believed the DA made a promise.

ADA Falin answers no.

"They let him sit because it served their best interests," Falin says, referring to Cosby's attorneys.

ADA:

Though Cosby "made statements that came back to haunt him," it "backfired."

There was no reliance.

Another argument against Cosby's claim of transactional immunity.

ADA: Former DA Castor could not grant immunity for victims in California or New York.

ADA closing remarks.

"This court has established a deferential standard of review for a reason...

"This cold record does not capture everything that happened...

"This is an issue for the trial judge, and he properly resolved and denied this claim."

Hearing adjourned.

As anticipated, today's Pa. high court appeal in Bill Cosby's case focused on 'prior bad acts' — i.e. the trial judge's decision to allow a jury to hear five women's uncharged allegations of rape to misconduct.

My recap, @LawCrimeNews: lawandcrime.com/high-profile/p…