Bill Cosby to seek state payout for wrongful imprisonment, says spokesman
The disgraced comedian wants to be recompensated for spending more than two years in a Pennsylvania prison
Bill Cosby is a free man after two years in prison for sexual assault. Now the comedian is looking to receive reparations for time lost as a result of him being incarcerated, according to his spokesperson.
During an appearance on The Domenick Nati Show, Cosby’s spokesperson Andrew Wyatt revealed the course of action Cosby plans to take against the state of Pennsylvania.
Last month, the state’s Supreme Court overturned Cosby’s sexual assault conviction against Temple University employee Andrea Constand after he served two years of his sentence.
Cosby was released from State Correctional Institution – Phoenix in Collegeville, Pennsylvania on June 30.
Wyatt told Nati that Cosby, 83, and his team are contemplating filing suit against the state over “wrongful incarceration.”
“We are looking at all legal angles for those things right now,” Wyatt said. “We are looking at what legal recourse we can take against the state of Pennsylvania.”
When asked if Cosby is owed for every day that he was locked up, Wyatt answered in the affirmative and said paperwork is being filed in that regard.
Wyatt said that Cosby is owed “a couple hundred grand.”
The conviction was overturned when it was concluded that Cosby’s prosecutor, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, violated an agreement Cosby made with former District Attorney Bruce Castor.
In that agreement, Castor promised that Cosby would not be prosecuted over Constand’s 2005 civil case in which Cosby disclosed in a deposition that he obtained drugs to give to women he intended to have sex with.
According to reports, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf proposed in the forthcoming state budget for 2021-2022, that wrongfully convicted people be paid up to $50K for every year that they spent behind bars.
The plan would also potentially apply to those who were exonerated after being found innocent of a crime, acquitted in a new trial, or had a conviction overturned.
Wyatt criticized attorney Gloria Allred for her probe into Cosby, calling it “the greatest Ocean’s Eleven extortion scheme led by Allred and [her daughter] Lisa Bloom.”
When Nati asked Wyatt if he felt that Allred is racist, Wyatt answered, “100%.”
“I’ve always said that. I stand on that principle. I think her and her daughter have an ax to grind against Black men,” he said.
Wyatt previously stated that Cosby intends to return to stand-up comedy, as reported theGrio.
“The world wants to see Mr. Cosby,” Wyatt said.
Wyatt also stated that Cosby is reportedly working on a book, as well.
Watch the full interview with Wyatt below:
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