Bill Cosby will be released from prison after the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court overturned his sexual assault conviction.
On Wednesday, June 30, the court found an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case.
Cosby, 83, had served more than two years of a three to ten year sentence in prison.
He had been incarcerated in a state facility near Philadelphia.
Cosby had been accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman, Andrea Constand, at his estate in 2004.
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He was charged for the alleged attack in 2015, arrested days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired.
Originally, the judge allowed just one accuser to testify at his first trial.
However, following a deadlock from the jury, the judge called five more accusers to testify about their encounters with Cosby in the 1980s.
In overturning his conviction, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said the testimony tainted the trial.
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Cosby had pledged to serve all 10 years of his sentence rather than acknowledge any remorse over the 2004 encounter with accuser Constand.
In a statement released through his press spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, in 2019, he said: “My political beliefs, my actions of trying to humanize all races, genders and religions landed me in this place surrounded by barb wire fencing, a room made of steel and iron.”
He was denied parole in May of this year when he refused to participate in sex offender programs in prison.
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This was the first year Cosby was eligible for parole.
The actor rose to prominence as a stand-up comedian, before eventually starring in his own sitcom, The Bill Cosby Show.
His subsequent comedy series, The Cosby Show, was rated as the number one show in America in the 1980s.
With a career spanning over six decades, Cosby was known as “America’s Dad” at the height of his success.
Constand has granted permission for her name to be made public.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
