Bill Cosby released: Pennsylvania court explains decision to overturn conviction
Bill Cosby was released after spending more than two years in prison after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his 2018 sexual assault conviction.
“Let’s enjoy this!”, USA TODAY
A Los Angeles County jury has sided with Bill Cosby’s accusers in a civil suit over a 1972 sexual assault charge.
Donna Motsisinger, one of dozens of people who say they were victims of the 88-year-old “Cosby Show” star, was ordered to pay $19.25 million in damages on March 23, more than 50 years after Cosby allegedly drugged and raped her. Hours later, a jury ruled that Cosby must pay Motosinger $40 million in punitive damages, totaling $59.25 million.
According to Rolling Stone, the jury found that Cosby acted with “malice, oppression, or fraud.”
The $19.25 million includes $17.5 million in past non-economic damages and $1.75 million in future non-economic damages, Motsinger’s legal team confirmed to USA TODAY.
USA TODAY has reached out to Cosby’s attorney for comment.
According to the New York Times, Cosby’s lawyer Jennifer Bonjean vowed to appeal, saying, “We are obviously disappointed in this decision, but we believe we have a strong appeal and we will pursue it.”
Motsinger said in a September 2023 civil suit that Cosby drugged and raped her after inviting her to his comedy show in the Bay Area. At the time, she was working as a server at a restaurant in Sausalito, California.
Mr. Cosby did not testify during the two-week trial.
Cosby, the first Hollywood figure to be convicted in the wake of the #MeToo movement, denies all charges related to sex crimes. After serving nearly three years in a state prison outside Philadelphia for allegedly drugging and sexually abusing a Temple University employee in 2004, he was released in 2021 after his conviction was overturned by the state Supreme Court.
In 2022, a Los Angeles jury awarded Judy Hughes $500,000 in damages after she alleged that Cosby sexually abused her at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 when she was 16 years old.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline We offer free and confidential support in English and Spanish 24/7 via chat and 800-656-4673..
