In the upcoming election the voters, by voting yes or no, will determine whether three justices on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court keep their jobs after 10 years on the bench. Voters are receiving multiple mailings from a conservative group called Commonwealth Partners urging them to vote no. The group cites three court decisions and falsely claims the justices sided with sexual predators.
The first case involved the 2018 sexual assault conviction of Bill Cosby, which was overturned on appeal after he had served only three years of a 10-year prison sentence. The judges never questioned the correctness of the guilty verdict or the sentence. They had no choice but to overturn the conviction because, in using Cosby’s testimony from an earlier civil case, the prosecution failed to abide by a prior agreement that they would not, which violated his rights under the state Constitution.
In the second case, the court accepted an appeal and ruled that the mandatory 25-year prison sentence for a very minor offense was vindictive and excessive. They did not, as claimed, side with a sexual predator.
In the third case, the court was split regarding whether the trial defense had been given sufficient time to rebut expert testimony for the prosecution. Since the Commonwealth Court had rejected the appeal, that ruling stands and no relief was granted. This was not, as claimed, an attempt to overturn the conviction.
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