Bill Cosby released from prison after sexual-assault conviction overturned

The comedian is freed after a court overturned his conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman 15 years ago.

US actor Bill Cosby arrives at court in Norristown, Pennsylvania to face sentencing for sexual assault in 2018. A US court overturned comedian his conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman 15 years ago allowing his release from prison.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered the release of entertainer Bill Cosby after overturning his conviction for sexual assault, one of the key prosecutions in the #MeToo movement that brought sexual assault against women onto the national stage.

Since his conviction in 2018, Mr. Cosby has been serving a 10-year sentence for the sexual assault of Andrea Constand. A spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections said Mr. Cosby had been released as of Wednesday afternoon.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined that it was fundamentally unfair that Mr. Cosby was prosecuted using evidence he divulged in a civil proceeding after being assured by an earlier prosecutor that no criminal case would proceed against him.

Bill Cosby looks on outside his house after Pennsylvania's highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction and ordered him released from prison immediately, in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.

Ms. Constand and her lawyers issued a statement saying they were disappointed and concerned by the ruling because “it may discourage those who seek justice for sexual assault in the criminal justice system from reporting or participating in the prosecution of the assailant or may force a victim to choose between filing either a criminal or civil action.” In a brief appearance outside his home, Mr. Cosby stood arm in arm with his lawyers and didn’t speak. When asked how he felt, he turned to one of his lawyers who said: “Mr. Cosby is extremely happy to be home. He looks forward to reuniting with his wife and the children. Obviously this has been a hard three years for this entire family.”

Ms. Constand was a former professional basketball player and the head of basketball operations at Temple University, Mr. Cosby’s alma mater. She reported that Mr. Cosby had assaulted her in 2004, after providing her with pills that incapacitated her.

In 2005, then Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor learned of the assault and determined that there wasn’t enough corroborating information to bring a successful prosecution, according to the high court’s ruling. Mr. Castor then decided not to prosecute Mr. Cosby to remove an obstacle to his testimony in a civil suit brought by Ms. Constand.

Several years later, prosecutors used Mr. Cosby’s testimony in that proceeding to bring criminal charges against Mr. Cosby, once among the most popular entertainers in the country as star of “The Cosby Show” and other programs. Among other things, Mr. Cosby testified in the civil case that he had sometimes provided quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in its ruling Wednesday, determined that it was unfair to use the new evidence in the criminal case.

Andrea Constand (C) after the sentencing of Bill Cosby in 2018 in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

“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,” the high court said in its ruling.

Wes Oliver, a law professor at Duquesne University, said the court’s ruling establishes a new precedent in the relatively narrow area of law in which prosecutors state that they don’t intend to bring charges against a person, which typically occurs only in high-profile cases.

“The new law that I see having been created here is that the prosecutors’ public statements, declining to prosecute, could themselves provide immunity,” he said.

The court found that the original prosecutor’s decision not to prosecute was enforceable, so it ruled out the possibility of a new trial, Mr. Oliver said. He said that state officials might pursue an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court over due process in the case, arguing that a new trial could be granted if it excluded the testimony Mr. Cosby gave that relied on the assumption he wouldn’t face criminal liability.

Montgomery County Correctional Facility image after his sentencing.

But Mr. Oliver doubts that the court would take the case because it mostly involves state procedural matters.

Current Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele expressed disappointment with the decision, saying Mr. Cosby “was found guilty by a jury and now goes free on a procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime.” A spokeswoman for the District Attorney declined to say whether the office would pursue an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Mr. Cosby was convicted of three counts of aggravated indecent assault in April 2018, after an earlier trial ended in a hung jury the previous June.

The second trial featured testimony from Ms. Constand and another woman who testified that she had been similarly drugged and assaulted by Mr. Cosby in 1996.

The defense rested its case after only six minutes and presenting one witness. Mr. Cosby had said before the trial he wouldn’t take the stand.

The Wall Street Journal