Philadelphia, PA….The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction.  Following is the summary paragraph from the Court’s Decision. “However, the discretion vested in our Commonwealth’s prosecutors, however vast, does not mean that its exercise is free of the constraints of due process. When an unconditional charging decision is made publicly and with the intent to induce action and reliance by the defendant, and when the defendant does so to his detriment (and in some instances upon the advice of counsel), denying the defendant the benefit of that decision is an affront to fundamental fairness, particularly when it results in a criminal prosecution that was foregone for more than a decade. No mere changing of the guard strips that circumstance of its inequity. See, e.g., State v. Myers, 513 S.E.2d 676, 682 n.1 (W.Va. 1998 (explaining that “any change in the duly elected prosecutor does not affect the standard of responsibility for the office”). A contrary result would be patently untenable. It would violate long-cherished principles of fundamental fairness. It would be antithetical to, and corrosive of, the integrity and functionality of the criminal justice system that we strive to maintain. For these reasons, Cosby’s convictions and judgment of sentence are vacated,
and he is discharged. J-100-2020mo – 104821740139246918

Justices Todd, Donohue and Mundy join the opinion.
Justice Dougherty files a concurring and dissenting opinion in which
Chief Justice Baer joins.

Justice Saylor files a dissenting opinion.”