Bill Cosby was released from prison Wednesday (June 30th) after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his 2018 conviction for sexual assault.
The 83-year-old comedian served nearly three years out of his 10-year sentence for three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault of drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004.
The court overturned the conviction after finding that he was denied protection against self-incrimination. The court said a “non-prosecution agreement” struck in an earlier case allowed Cosby to speak freely in a lawsuit against him, thinking he could not be incriminated criminally. That testimony later became a key element in his criminal case.
The state Supreme Court said Cosby cannot be retried on the same charges, essentially shutting the door on any further convictions for the former sitcom star. Legal experts told The New York Times that while more than 50 women have accused him of sexual assault, the statues of limitations on their cases make further prosecutions unlikely.
Cosby’s spokesman Andrew Wyatt told The New York Post, “It’s a beautiful day, and it’s a beautiful day, also for women.”
He alleged, “Millions of supporters and millions of women have gotten in touch with us and said ‘We know these women made up these allegations. We know it’s not true.
“But the beauty of today, another great thing, they can no longer call him a sexual violent predator. No longer call him a rapist. No longer call him these horrible things. He’s now Bill Cosby, an American and national treasure.”
