Bill Cosby was released from prison Wednesday after his conviction for sexual assault was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which found the comedian was denied protection against self-incrimination.
Bill Cosby freed: Sexual assault overturned and vacated
The 2018 conviction of 83-year-old comedian Bill Cosby for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004, has been overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and vacated, which means he cannot be tried again on the same charges, NBC reported. Cosby had served slightly less than two years of a 3-to-10 year sentence.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court concluded that Cosby’s prosecution should never have occurred due to a deal cut with former Montgomery County prosecutor Bruce Castor, who agreed not to criminally prosecute Cosby if he agreed to give a deposition in a civil case brought against him by former Temple University employee Andrea Constand, ABC reported.
Court’s ruling
“When an unconditional charging decision is made publicly and with the intent to induce action and reliance by the defendant, and when the defendant does so to his detriment (and in some instances upon the advice of counsel), denying the defendant the benefit of that decision is an affront to fundamental fairness, particularly when it results in a criminal prosecution that was foregone for more than a decade,” the state court ruled. “For these reasons, Cosby’s convictions and judgment of sentence are vacated, and he is discharged.”
Cosby’s record will be cleared, maintains his innocence
Despite the accusations against him, Cosby has maintained he never engaged in non-consensual sex.
When a conviction is vacated the guilty plea is withdrawn and the court releases the defendant from all penalties and disabilities. It becomes as if the defendant was never convicted of the particular crime(s) and can legally make such a statement.
How Cosby wound up in prison
Back on September 25, 2018, after a two-day hearing in which a dozen women accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault, he was to 3 to 10 years in state prison with no bail during his appeals, ABC reported. The judge, Stephen O’Neill, designated the comedian to be a “sexually violent predator.”
At the heart of the case was the accusations by f Andrea Constand, for whom Cosby was convicted of assaulting in his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
The civil lawsuit filed by Constand was settled for more than $3 million in 2006.
