Bill Cosby was denied parole earlier this month by a Pennsylvania board after the comedian-actor failed to participate in and complete a program for sex offenders.
The May 11 ruling by the Pennsylvania Parole Board was not publicly released until Thursday, WCAU reported. Andrew Wyatt, a spokesperson for Cosby, 83, said the denial by the board “is not a surprise.”
“It was brought to our attention by Mr. Cosby that over the past months, members of the Pennsylvania State Parole Board had met with him and empathically stated, ‘if he did not participate in SVP (Sexually Violent Predator) courses that his parole would be denied,’” Wyatt wrote in an email to the television station. “Mr. Cosby has vehemently proclaimed his innocence and continues to deny all allegations made against him, as being false, without the sheer evidence of any proof.”
#BREAKING Bill Cosby will not be released on parole later this year, the Pennsylvania Parole Board ruled earlier this month, in part because he failed to complete a treatment program for sexual offenders. The ruling was not publicly known until Thursday. https://t.co/wJPqRfDn4W
— NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) May 27, 2021
It is not clear when Cosby will next be eligible for parole.
Cosby has served more than two years of his three-to-10-year prison sentence for drugging and molesting Andrea Constand, Fox News reported. Cosby met Constand through the basketball program at his alma mater, Temple University, the news channel reported.
Cosby was convicted in 2018 of charges stemming from the 2004 incident at his home, WCAU reported.
The parole board determined that Cosby failed to “develop a parole release plan” and needs to “participate in and complete additional institutional programs.” Cosby also received a negative recommendation from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, the television station reported.
At Cosby’s next parole hearing, the board will review and consider whether he has “successfully participated in/successfully completed a treatment program for sex offenders and violence prevention,” Fox News reported.
Wyatt said in a statement that Cosby and his family are hopeful that an appeal currently being considered by the state Supreme Court will overturn the conviction.
Cosby “continues to remain hopeful that the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court will issue an opinion to vacate his conviction or warrant him a new trial,” Wyatt said.
Cosby remains imprisoned at SCI Phoenix in Montgomery County, about 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia, according to WCAU.
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