The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction and released him from prison on Wednesday after serving almost three years of a three to 10-year sentence.
Cosby is the first celebrity tried and arrested during the #MeToo Movement. The court ruled that the prosecutor in Cosby’s 2018 trial was bound by his predecessor’s decision not to convict Cosby.
“We are thrilled to have Mr. Cosby home,” said Cosby’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean. “He served three years of an unjust sentence and he did it with dignity and principle.
Andrea Constand, who was allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby in 2004, expressed her disappointment and concern for other sexual assault victims who may be discouraged from speaking against their abusers.
The court called Cosby’s subsequent arrest “an affront to fundamental fairness, particularly when it results in a criminal prosecution that was forgone for more than a decade.”
The high courts said that throwing out the conviction and banning further prosecution “is the only remedy that comports with society’s reasonable expectations of its elected prosecutors and our criminal justice system.”
Upon returning home, Cosby tweeted an old photo of himself with a raised fist and closed eyes. The caption read: “I have never changed my stance nor my story. I have always maintained my innocence. Thank you to all my fans, supporters and friends who stood by me through this ordeal. Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for upholding the rules of law.”