Bill Cosby released from prison, conviction overturned for sexual assault

Comedian Bill Cosby has taken to Twitter to celebrate being released from prison today after a court sensationally quashed his conviction for sexual assault.

Bill Cosby and his wife Camille in 2018.

A US court overturned comedian Bill Cosby’s conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman 15 years ago, allowing his release from prison.

“Cosby’s convictions and judgment of sentence are vacated, and he is discharged,” the Pennsylvania Supreme Court wrote in a 79-page ruling.

Media reports that Cosby walked out of prison around 4:30am AEST.

Bill Cosby was seen flashing a peace sign as he arrived home. Picture: Backgrid

Attorney Jennifer Bonjean and Bill Cosby speak outside of Bill Cosby's home after he was released from prison. Picture: Michael Abbott/Getty Images

Cosby, 83, took to Twitter shortly afterwards with a photo of himself fist-pumping the air, writing, “I have always maintained my innocence.”

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 rule of law. #BillCosbypic.twitter.com/bxELvJWDe5

— Bill Cosby (@BillCosby) June 30, 2021

Cosby had served more than two years of a three- to 10-year sentence at a state prison near Philadelphia.

The state Supreme Court found that an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged for allegedly drugging and molesting Andrea Constand in 2004.

Although more than 60 women charged that they had been victims of sexual assault by Cosby, he was tried criminally only for Ms Constand’s assault, since the statute of limitations had expired in the other cases.

People smile during a press conference with Andrea Constand (C), after the sentencing of the comedian.

The ruling bars any retrial in the case.

Charges were filed against Cosby, who was once celebrated as “America’s Dad,” in late 2015 — just days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired. He was convicted in 2018 at his second trial, after a first trial ended in a hung jury.

He had refused to offer any remorse over the encounter with the Temple University employee, vowing instead to serve all 10 years of the sentence.

He was recently denied parole, in part, over his refusal to admit guilt or acknowledge any remorse for crimes he maintains he did not commit.

The case had a complicated history that began in 2005 when Constand first reported the alleged assault to then-Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr., who ultimately declined to file charges in this case.

But Mr Castor’s successors reopened the case and charged Cosby in 2015, just days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired and amid a barrage of new accusations from women across the country.

US actor Bill Cosby arrives at court in Norristown, Pennsylvania in 2018.

Mr Castor objected to the new prosecution, saying he’d struck a deal with Cosby and his lawyers not to prosecute him for Constand’s assault if Cosby agreed to sit for a deposition in a civil case she had filed against him.

Excerpts from that deposition were ultimately used against Cosby at trial

He was charged in late 2015, when a prosecutor armed with newly unsealed evidence — Cosby’s damaging deposition from her lawsuit — arrested him days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired.

Actor and comedian Bill Cosby is led from the courtroom during a break by his spokesman Andrew Wyattat the Montgomery County Courthouse in 2018.

He filed a second appeal against his conviction in August last year. His lawyers argued that five women should not have been allowed to give evidence at his trial as witnesses.

They complained that their “decades-old” allegations, which were not part of the charges, had prejudiced the jury.

It was the first guilty verdict for sexual assault against a celebrity since the advent of the #MeToo movement.

The Cosby Show cast (front row l-r) Keshia Knight Pulliam as Rudy Huxtable, Bill Cosby as Dr. Heathcliff 'Cliff' Huxtable, Tempestt Bledsoe as Vanessa Huxtable (back row l-r) Lisa Bonet as Denise Huxtable Kendall, Malcolm-Jamal Warner as Theodore 'Theo' Huxtable, Phylicia Rashad as Clair Hanks Huxtable, Sabrina Le Beauf as Sondra Huxtable Tibideaux.