Bill Cosby will reportedly appeal his sexual assault conviction in Pennsylvania Supreme Court, arguing that testimony from witnesses claiming the celebrity drugged then sexually assaulted them should be tossed.

Legal experts told New York NBC affiliate, 4 New York, that the appeal will likely bring up issues about using testimony about a defendant’s past actions in a trial about unrelated incidents. Defense attorneys say that allowing juries to hear this evidence unfairly hurts the defendant’s case.

“The issue is really intriguing because it forces defendants to spend time fighting shadows of uncharged, sometimes unrelated accusations that never really became formal criminal charges,” a Philadelphia defense lawyer told NBC 4 reporters. “It’s very distracting. You should focus on what you’re criminally charged with.”

Prosecutors reportedly counter that evidence of similar past behavior paints a picture for juries, however. According to a brief submitted by the Philadelphia’s District Attorney’s office in the Cosby sexual assault conviction, witnesses who testified that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted them is pertinent evidence.

“It is unusual, to say the least, that defendant has been repeatedly … accused of engaging in sexual conduct with unconscious or otherwise incapacitated young women,” stated the brief.

Cosby Sexual Assault Conviction

Allegations that the ‘90s TV star took young women under his wing and then sexually assaulted them while they were sleeping or drugged persisted for decades before Cosby was criminally charged in 2015 by the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office on three counts of sexual assault. According to Vulture, the incident leading to the criminal charges allegedly occurred in 2004, but a total of 60 women have accused Cosby of sexual assault.

Indeed, Vulture reports that allegations that Cosby slipped quaaludes to women then sexually assaulted them go as far back as the 1970s before the star rose to fame as the main character in The Cosby Show. Accusations began to be covered more prominently by the media in 2005, with women telling reporters that they had been sexually assaulted by Cosby.

Reportedly, the star dodged criminal charges in 2005 when the Montgomery County district attorney dropped the case, saying there was not enough evidence. However, Vulture reports that he then faced a civil lawsuit in which five additional women alleged the star raped them.

Media attention ramped up, according to Vulture, in 2014 as women in the civil lawsuit begin talking to reporters.

Vulture details reports made by women who say that Cosby sexually assaulted them in the 1970s and 1980s. The women told reporters from various publications, including People, Vanity Fair, The Post, and Today Show that Cosby drugged them, often using wine, and then raped them.

As reports mounted, Vulture says the comedian lost a Netflix stand-up special and plans for a new NBC sitcom that year. In addition, reruns of his hit sitcom were pulled, and the star lost several bookings for shows in Las Vegas. Honorary designations that had been awarded from universities and even the U.S. Navy were pulled from Cosby during 2014 and 2015.

Bill Cosby continually denied the allegations, says the Vulture report, staying silent when asked about the accusations in interviews. His lawyers reportedly called the sexual assault allegations a “media feeding frenzy” and pointing out that some had waited 40 or 50 years to come forward.

In 2018, the TV star was convicted by a jury for assaulting a woman who was working for Temple University’s basketball team when she met Cosby in 2002. NPR reports that Cosby allegedly became a mentor to the woman; however, one night when she went to the star’s house, she says he slipped her drugs under the guise of an herbal remedy for anxiety. He then sexually assaulted her, according to the Cosby’s criminal charges.

According to NPR, five women who say that Cosby sexually assaulted them after drugging them testified in the trial. Cosby was reportedly sentenced to up to 10 years in prison by the jury. He appealed his conviction, arguing the women should not have been allowed to testify.

NPR reports that, in 2019, a Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed his sexual assault conviction, upholding the lower court’s decision to allow the testimony and backing its reasoning on other issues, as well.

Cosby has since appealed the Superior Court’s ruling and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will reportedly hear arguments soon, though it is not expected to rule for several months.

NBC 4 reports that friends of the star are also asking for early release because of the coronavirus pandemic. Reportedly, the state prison where Cosby is carrying out his sentence has experienced several inmate deaths due to the virus.