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      Bill Cosby Freed as Court Overturns His Sex Assault Conviction

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      The entertainer had been serving a three- to 10-year sentence in a prison outside Philadelphia.Bill Cosby was released from prison Wednesday after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his 2018 conviction for sexual assault, a dramatic reversal in one of the first high-profile criminal trials of the #MeToo era.The court’s decision seemed likely to end the Pennsylvania case, legal experts said, and while more than 50 women across the nation have accused Mr. Cosby of sexual assault and misconduct, statutes of limitations in their cases makes further prosecutions unlikely.Mr. Cosby had served three years of a three- to 10-year sentence at a maximum-security prison outside Philadelphia when the court ruled that a “non-prosecution agreement” with a previous prosecutor meant that Mr. Cosby should not have been charged in the case.Mr. Cosby, 83, returned to his home in suburban Philadelphia Wednesday afternoon where, looking frail and walking slowly, he was helped inside by his lawyer and a spokesman. He flashed a “V” sign as he reached his front door.The court’s decision overturned the first major criminal conviction of the #MeToo era, which came soon after allegations of sexual assault had been made against the powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. The accusations and eventual conviction of Mr. Cosby stunned the nation, painting a disturbing portrait suggesting that a man who had brightened America’s living rooms as a beloved father figure had been a sexual predator.The case against Mr. Cosby began with his arrest in 2015 on charges that he had drugged and sexually assaulted a woman at his home in the Philadelphia suburbs 11 years earlier. In April 2018, the jury convicted Mr. Cosby of three counts of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand, to whom Mr. Cosby had been a mentor and who was at the time a Temple University employee.Ms. Constand had praised the guilty verdict at the time, saying, “Truth prevails,” and the National Organization for Women called it “a notice to sexual predators everywhere.” But Mr. Cosby’s lawyers, who had said at the time that allegations against Mr. Weinstein would make it difficult for them to receive a fair trial, later suggested in an appeal that the outcome had been influenced by what they described as a period of “public panic.”Andrea Constand, who had said “Truth prevails” when Mr. Cosby was convicted of sexually assaulting her, returning to the courtroom in 2018.Pool photo by David MaialettiIn a statement issued with her lawyers, Ms. Constand said Wednesday that the court’s ruling was “not only disappointing but of concern in that 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 their 79-page opinion, the judges wrote that a previous prosecutor’s statement that Mr. Cosby would not face charges, which paved the way for Mr. Cosby to testify in a civil trial, meant that he should not have been charged in the case. It was a 6-to-1 ruling, with two of the judges in the majority dissenting on the remedy, which barred a retrial.Bill Cosby’s Conviction Is Overturned: Read the Court’s OpinionThe Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which overturned Mr. Cosby’s conviction, wrote that a “non-prosecution agreement” that had been struck with Bruce L. Castor Jr., the former district attorney, meant that Bill Cosby should not have been charged in the case for which he was convicted and sentenced in 2018. The court also barred a retrial. Read the full 79-page opinion.Read Document 79 pagesThe case began in 2005, when Mr. Cosby was investigated in the case of Ms. Constand, and a former district attorney of Montgomery County said that he had given Mr. Cosby his assurance that he would not be charged in the case. The former district attorney, Bruce L. Castor Jr., announced in a news release at the time that after an investigation he had found “insufficient” evidence. He later testified that he had given Mr. Cosby the assurance to encourage him to testify in a subsequent civil case brought by Ms. Constand. (A civil suit she filed against Mr. Cosby was settled in 2006 for $3.38 million.)In that testimony, Mr. Cosby acknowledged giving quaaludes to women he was pursuing for sex — evidence that played a key part in his trial after Mr. Castor’s successors reopened the case and charged Mr. Cosby in December 2015. That was just days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired in the case, and it came amid a number of new allegations from women who brought similar accusations of drugging and sexual assault against Mr. Cosby.“In light of these circumstances, the subsequent decision by successor D. A.s to prosecute Cosby violated Cosby’s due process rights,” the appeals ruling said.Mr. Cosby posted a picture of himself, with a fist raised above his head and his eyes closed, on Twitter, writing: “I have never changed my stance nor my story. I have always maintained my innocence.”Mr. Castor, who this year served as a lawyer for President Donald J. Trump during his second impeachment trial, said after the ruling was delivered on Wednesday that he believed his decision in 2005 had been “exonerated” by the ruling, calling the verdict a “shellacking” for the current district attorney’s office.“I was right back in 2005 and I’m right in 2021,” he said in a phone interview. “I’m proud of our Supreme Court for having the courage to make an unpopular decision.”Brian W. Perry, one of the lawyers representing Mr. Cosby, said he was “thrilled” with the ruling. “To be honest with you, we all believed, collectively, that this is how the case would end,” he said. “We did not think he was treated fairly and fortunately the Supreme Court agreed.”The Montgomery County District Attorney, Kevin R. Steele, said that he hoped the decision would not “dampen the reporting of sexual assaults by victims.”“He was found guilty by a jury and now goes free on a procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime,” Mr. Steele said in a statement. “I want to commend Cosby’s victim Andrea Constand for her bravery in coming forward and remaining steadfast throughout this long ordeal, as well as all of the other women who have shared similar experiences.”Patricia Steuer, 65, who accused Mr. Cosby of drugging and assaulting her in 1978 and 1980, said that she had been preparing herself for the possibility that Mr. Cosby’s conviction would be overturned but that she was still “a little stunned” by the court’s ruling on Wednesday.“I’m wondering what the 43-year ordeal that I went through was supposed to be about,” said Ms. Steuer, who said she found out about the decision on Facebook. But she said she was “consoled by the fact that I believe we did the only thing that we could, which is to come forward and tell the truth.”Scott Berkowitz, the president of RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, said: “We are deeply disappointed in today’s ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and by the message this decision sends to the brave survivors who came forward to seek justice for what Bill Cosby did to them. This is not justice.”Others expressed support for Mr. Cosby. Phylicia Rashad, who appeared as Mr. Cosby’s wife in “The Cosby Show,” praised the decision on Twitter. “FINALLY!!!!” Ms. Rashad, who was recently named the dean of Howard University’s College of Fine Arts, wrote on Twitter. “A terrible wrong is being righted- a miscarriage of justice is corrected!” (She later wrote: “I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward. My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth.”)The decision undoes a verdict that several women who said that they had been assaulted and raped by Mr. Cosby had praised at the time as a measure of justice that had been long in coming. In a victim impact statement filed with the court in 2018, Ms. Constand had said of Mr. Cosby: “We may never know the full extent of his double life as a sexual predator, but his decades-long reign of terror as a serial rapist is over.”And Janice Dickinson, a former model who had told the court that Mr. Cosby raped her in 1982 after giving her a pill — her account was one of five women the prosecution presented from women who said he had drugged and sexually assaulted them — said after the sentencing that “My heart is beating out of my chest at the moment.”“This is fair and just,” she said in 2018. “I am victorious.”The issue of whether the trial court had improperly allowed additional women to testify was not considered because the panel ruled that Mr. Cosby had relied to his detriment on Mr. Castor’s promise and then made statements in the civil case that were effectively used as evidence against him.In a dissent, Justice Thomas G. Saylor disagreed that a statement Mr. Castor made in a news release represented an unconditional promise that bound his successor not to prosecute. Justice Kevin Dougherty, in a separate opinion in which he was joined by Justice Max Baer, found that though Mr. Cosby’s due process rights had been violated when he relied on Mr. Castor’s promise and testified in the civil case, the remedy should not have been barring further prosecution but throwing out the evidence the prosecution gained from Mr. Cosby’s testimony.The reversal now leaves Cosby’s career and reputation in limbo. His conviction, after years of dodging accusations that he had preyed on women, had seemed to cap the downfall of one of the world’s best-known entertainers.Its overturning undid what many women had seen as an early success of the #MeToo movement, a ruling which had been praised at the time as a sign that the accounts of female accusers were being afforded greater weight and credibility.Sydney Ember, Matt Stevens and Jon Hurdle contributed reporting. More

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      ‘Overwhelmed and Devastated’: Cosby’s Accusers on Decision to Free Him

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      Many of the women who accused Bill Cosby of sexual misconduct, and worse, said they were disheartened by the ruling of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.Even before the #MeToo movement transformed the way the country, and the world, viewed sexual misconduct and empowered scores of women to speak out, dozens had already come forward with accusations against Bill Cosby.They were of all ages and from all walks of life — aspiring actors, models and, in one important case, a Temple University employee. Some were young adults. Others were older women with accounts of abuse that stretched back decades.But they all cheered when Mr. Cosby was found guilty in 2018 of assaulting a woman years earlier, hailing the decision as long-awaited vindication and evidence that famous and influential men could be held accountable.That sense of relief and justice came crashing down Wednesday as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction.Andrea Constand, who brought the charges against Mr. Cosby that had led to his conviction, called the ruling “disappointing” and said she worried it could discourage other women from pursuing prosecutions in cases of sexual assault.“We urge all victims,” Ms. Constand said in a statement made jointly with her lawyers, “to have their voices heard.”Patricia Steuer, 65, who accused Mr. Cosby of drugging and assaulting her in 1978 and 1980, said that she had been preparing herself for the possibility that Mr. Cosby’s conviction would be overturned but was still “a little stunned” by the court’s ruling.“I’m feeling sad because this is absolutely a perceived loss on my part,” Ms. Steuer said. “I’m wondering what the 43-year ordeal that I went through was supposed to be about.”But she also said she was “consoled by the fact that I believe we did the only thing that we could, which is to come forward and tell the truth.”Gloria Allred, a lawyer who represented a number of women who accused Mr. Cosby of abuse, with several of them at a news conference in 2015.Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images North AmericaWith the ruling, Mr. Cosby “may claim that he’s been vindicated or persecuted or that he’s innocent, but I know that’s not true, and the other women who came forward also know that that’s not true,” Ms. Steuer said.Victoria Valentino, another of Mr. Cosby’s accusers, told ABC News that “my stomach is lurching” and that she was “deeply distressed” by what she said was “the injustice of the whole thing.”In a brief telephone interview on Wednesday, she said only that she was “overwhelmed and devastated.”Ms. Steuer worried about what the ruling meant for the #MeToo movement. “This is going to have ramifications for any woman who has ever come forward about a man who did this to them or any person who is thinking about coming forward,” she said.Eden Tirl, another of Mr. Cosby’s accusers, told Kate Snow of NBC News that the resolution of the case must now also become part of the story of the #MeToo movement and its narrative.“From the very beginning, the rigid constructs of the statute of limitations did not provide protection or a pathway for justice for the women that came out against Cosby,” she wrote to Ms. Snow via text message. “The outdated laws are so clearly in place, protecting men in these cases, more often than not.”“I am completely out of breath,” she added.In a statement, the National Organization for Women denounced Mr. Cosby’s release, saying that “the judicial system in America” had “failed survivors again.”Tina Tchen, the head of Time’s Up, the advocacy organization founded by powerful women in Hollywood, called the court decision “devastating,” but promised that the bravery and resolve showed by the women who spoke out about Mr. Cosby would not be “in vain.”And in her own statement, Gloria Allred, the lawyer for dozens of Mr. Cosby’s accusers, said her heart went out to “those who bravely testified in both of his criminal cases.”“Despite the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision, this was an important fight for justice and even though the court overturned the conviction on technical grounds, it did not vindicate Bill Cosby’s conduct and should not be interpreted as a statement or a finding that he did not engage in the acts of which he has been accused,” Ms. Allred said. More

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      Bill Cosby’s Conviction Is Overturned: Read the Court’s Opinion

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      unconditional promise of non-prosecution, and when the defendant relies upon that

      guarantee to the detriment of his constitutional right not to testify, the principle of

      fundamental fairness that undergirds due process of law in our criminal justice system

      demands that the promise be enforced.

      explained in Commonwealth v. Clancy, 192 A.3d 44 (Pa. 2018), prosecutors inhabit three

      distinct and equally critical roles: they are officers of the court, advocates for victims, and

      administrators of justice. Id. at 52. As the Commonwealth’s representatives, prosecutors

      are duty-bound to pursue “equal and impartial justice,” Appeal of Nicely, 18 A. 737, 738

      (Pa. 1889), and “to serve the public interest.” Clancy, 192 A.3d 52. Their obligation is

      “not merely to convict,” but rather to “seek justice within the bounds of the law.”

      Commonwealth v. Starks, 387 A.2d 829, 831 (Pa. 1978).

      For the reasons detailed below, we hold that, when a prosecutor makes an

      Prosecutors are more than mere participants in our criminal justice system. As we

      As an “administrator of justice,” the prosecutor has the power to decide whether to initiate formal criminal proceedings, to select those criminal charges which will be filed against the accused, to negotiate plea bargains, to withdraw charges where appropriate, and, ultimately, to prosecute or dismiss charges at trial. See, e.g., 16 P.S. § 1402(a) (“The district attorney shall sign all bills of indictment and conduct in court all criminal and other prosecutions . . . .”); Pa.R.Crim.P. 507 (establishing the prosecutor’s power to require that police officers seek approval from the district attorney prior to filing criminal complaints); Pa.R.Crim.P. 585 (power to move for nolle prosequi); see also ABA Standards §§ 3-4.2, 3-4.4. The extent of the powers enjoyed by the prosecutor was discussed most eloquently by United States Attorney General (and later Supreme Court Justice) Robert H. Jackson. In his historic address to the nation’s United States Attorneys, gathered in 1940 at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., Jackson observed that “[t]he prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America. His discretion is tremendous.” Robert H. Jackson, The Federal Prosecutor, 31 AM. INST. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 3, 3 (1940). In fact, the prosecutor is afforded such great deference that this Court and the Supreme Court of the United States seldom interfere with a prosecutor’s charging decision. See, e.g., United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 693 (1974) (noting that “the Executive Branch has exclusive authority and absolute discretion to decide whether

      [J-100-2020] – 52 More

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      Former Disney Star Kyle Massey Charged With Sending Explicit Messages to a Minor

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      Mr. Massey, 29, who starred in “That’s So Raven,” faces a felony charge in connection with accusations that he sent a 13-year-old girl pornographic Snapchat messages.Kyle Massey, a former Disney Channel star best known for his role as Raven-Symoné’s little brother on “That’s So Raven,” has been charged with a felony in Washington State after prosecutors say he sent pornographic messages to a 13-year-old girl in 2018 and 2019.Mr. Massey, 29, was charged on June 14 with one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes after sending explicit messages, images and videos to the girl via Snapchat from December 2018 to January 2019, according to King County prosecutors.The felony charge stems from accusations made in a lawsuit filed in 2019 against Mr. Massey for $1.5 million by the girl’s mother. This suit was eventually dropped when the girl’s lawyers determined that Mr. Massey did not have enough money for it to make financial sense to pursue the case, according to prosecutors. In 2019, Mr. Massey denied the allegations in the suit, according to a statement obtained by People magazine.In February, the girl’s mother notified the King County Sheriff’s Office that Mr. Massey was sending explicit material to her daughter knowing that she was underage, according to court documents. Prosecutors say that Mr. Massey first met the girl when she was 4 years old, and that in their correspondence during 2018 and 2019 the girl disclosed that she would be in the eighth grade once she went back to school. Mr. Massey was 27 at the time.The mother provided Detective Daniel W. Arvidson of the King County Sheriff’s Office with a thumb drive that she said contained explicit videos and photos sent by Mr. Massey. According to the detective’s written statement, one of the videos on the drive shows a man who looks like Mr. Massey exposing himself to the camera. The girl’s mother also told the police that around the time Mr. Massey started sending the explicit content, he asked the mother if she could send the girl to stay with Mr. Massey and his girlfriend in Los Angeles.Lee A. Hutton III, a lawyer for Mr. Massey, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Mr. Hutton told TMZ that his client became aware of the charges through the media on Tuesday.Mr. Massey played Cory Baxter on all four seasons of “That’s So Raven,” beginning in 2003. He then starred in a spinoff series called “Cory in the House” in 2007.Mr. Massey failed to show up to his arraignment on Monday. A new arraignment date was set for July 12, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. More

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      Drake Bell Pleads Guilty to Attempted Child Endangerment

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      Mr. Bell, a former star of the Nickelodeon series “Drake & Josh,” faces up to two years in prison.Jared Drake Bell, a former star of the Nickelodeon series “Drake & Josh,” faces up to two years in prison after pleading guilty on Wednesday to two charges against him relating to a girl who met him online and attended one of his concerts in Cleveland in 2017.Mr. Bell, 34, who was charged earlier this month with attempted child endangerment, a felony, and disseminating material harmful to children, a misdemeanor, agreed to a plea deal at a virtual court hearing on Wednesday. He had initially pleaded not guilty to both charges.Mr. Bell’s lawyer, Ian N. Friedman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.The sentencing range is probation to two years in prison. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 12.According to prosecutors, the charges stem from an incident at a concert in Cleveland on Dec. 1, 2017. Mr. Bell, who is also known as Drake Campana, had posted a tweet saying that he had a show scheduled at the Odeon Concert Club there on that date.Prosecutors said that Mr. Bell engaged in a conversation with a 15-year-old girl that was at times sexual in nature. An investigation by the Cleveland Police Department also revealed that Mr. Bell had sent the girl inappropriate social media messages in the months before the show, the prosecutors said.The judge told Mr. Bell that if he did serve time in prison, his activities could be restricted for up to three years after his release.“Drake & Josh,” a young adult sitcom, aired for four seasons on Nickelodeon from 2004 to 2007. Mr. Bell played one half of a pair of stepbrothers (the other was played by Josh Peck) who lived together despite having opposite personalities.In the years since, Mr. Bell has started a music career and toured in support of several albums. More

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      Drake Bell Charged With Attempted Child Endangerment

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      Mr. Bell, who starred in the Nickelodeon series “Drake & Josh” from 2004 to 2007, has pleaded not guilty.Jared Drake Bell, a former star of the Nickelodeon sitcom “Drake & Josh,” was charged in Cleveland with attempted child endangerment and disseminating material harmful to children.Mr. Bell, 34, pleaded not guilty to both charges in Cuyahoga County Court on Thursday. He was released after posting a $2,500 bond and agreeing to not have contact with the alleged victim.He was indicted by a grand jury on May 21.According to prosecutors, the charges stem from an incident at a concert in Cleveland on Dec. 1, 2017. Mr. Bell, who also goes by Drake Campana, had tweeted that he had a show scheduled at the Odeon Concert Club there on that date.Prosecutors said that Mr. Bell engaged in a conversation with a 15-year-old girl that was at times sexual in nature. An investigation by the Cleveland Police Department also revealed that Mr. Bell had sent the girl inappropriate social media messages in the months before the show, the prosecutors said.According to prosecutors, Mr. Bell “violated his duty of care” at the concert and, “in doing so, created a risk of harm to the victim.” A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, Tyler Sinclair, did not say why Mr. Bell had only just now been indicted.In a brief statement on Friday, Ian N. Friedman, a lawyer representing Mr. Bell, declined to address specific questions. “All facts will be revealed in the courtroom,” he said.The felony child endangerment charge carries a sentence of up to 18 months in prison, with a minimum sentence of six months, and up to a $5,000 fine. The second charge, a misdemeanor, is punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.A pretrial video hearing for Mr. Bell has been scheduled for June 23.“Drake & Josh,” a young adult sitcom, aired for four seasons on Nickelodeon from 2004 to 2007. Mr. Bell played one half of a pair of stepbrothers (the other was played by Josh Peck) who lived together despite having opposite personalities.In the years since, Mr. Bell, who now goes by Drake Campana, has launched a music career and toured in support of several albums. More

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      in Movies

      Kevin Spacey Cast in Italian Film After Being Sidelined in the U.S.

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      He will play a detective in the movie, directed by Franco Nero, in what is believed to be his first film since sexual assault allegations started surfacing in 2017.Kevin Spacey has been cast in a film in what is believed to be the first time since accusations of sexual assault against the actor started surfacing more than three years ago, prompting several court cases and unraveling his onscreen career. More

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      T.I. and Tiny Under Investigation by Los Angeles Police

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      The Atlanta rapper and his wife, a singer, have faced accusations from multiple women who said that they were drugged and sexually assaulted by the couple. T.I. and Tameka Harris have denied the allegations.The multiplatinum rapper T.I., born Clifford Harris, and his wife, Tameka Harris, an R&B singer known as Tiny, are the subjects of an active criminal investigation in Los Angeles following claims that they drugged and sexually assaulted women there, authorities said on Tuesday.Tyrone A. Blackburn, a lawyer representing multiple women who have made accusations against the Harrises in several states, said that one of his clients had met virtually last month with detectives for the Los Angeles Police Department regarding an incident that occurred in 2005. A police spokesman, Officer Jader Chaves, confirmed that the investigation into T.I. and Ms. Harris was active.The woman, a military veteran who requested anonymity to protect her family, said in an earlier interview with The New York Times that she met the famous couple in the V.I.P. section of a Los Angeles club. Ms. Harris offered her a sip of a drink that the veteran later came to believe was spiked with a drug that left her incapacitated. T.I. and Ms. Harris then raped her in a hotel room, the woman said, calling the incident a life-altering trauma. The couple has denied any instances of non-consensual sex.The statute of limitations for most rape cases in Los Angeles before 2017 is typically 10 years. But Mr. Blackburn noted that there are exceptions allowing the authorities to pursue older cases, as they did recently when they brought charges against Harvey Weinstein related to an incident that took place more than a decade ago.The Los Angeles police declined to discuss the investigation except to confirm that it was active. News of the investigation was first published by The Daily Beast.Steve Sadow, a lawyer for T.I. and Ms. Harris, said that they had not been contacted by the Los Angeles police or “any member of law enforcement from any other jurisdiction in the country.” Mr. Sadow added that the woman’s anonymity was “preventing us from being in a position to disprove or refute her allegations — or even examine them.”In February, Mr. Blackburn sent letters to law enforcement authorities in Georgia and California calling for criminal inquiries on behalf of 11 people who said they had been victimized by the Atlanta-based couple or members of their entourage. The letters described “eerily similar” experiences of “sexual abuse, forced ingestion of illegal narcotics, kidnapping, terroristic threats and false imprisonment” at the hands of T.I., Ms. Harris and their associates.At the time, representatives for the couple called the claims “a sordid shakedown campaign.”In a statement on Tuesday, Mr. Blackburn said he was pleased by the progress of the investigation in Los Angeles. The identities of the women “are known to law enforcement, and that’s what matters,” he said. “We await further updates from the L.A.P.D.”In addition to the military veteran who spoke with investigators, Mr. Blackburn said in an interview that he represented at least two additional clients who wished to speak with the Los Angeles police.One woman, Rachelle Jenks, originally met T.I. and Ms. Harris in Las Vegas in 2010, when she said she was drugged and sexually assaulted, according to a police report filed there this month. Ms. Jenks said she was then transported to Los Angeles by the couple and again forced to engage in sex acts. Mr. Blackburn said that he expected her case to be referred to the Los Angeles police.The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department confirmed in a statement that it had received a claim of sexual assault involving the couple, but said that the incident fell outside of the statute of limitations for the crime. “Based on this, the case was closed, which is standard procedure for crimes reported outside of the statute,” the Las Vegas police said.A third woman, referred to anonymously in Mr. Blackburn’s letters to law enforcement, was an old friend of Ms. Harris who started working for the celebrity couple in 2005, traveling with them from Atlanta to Los Angeles as part of their entourage. Mr. Blackburn wrote in the letters that the couple had “forced her to engage in sexual acts with different women against her will,” and the woman confirmed that account in interviews with The Times.In addition to his success in music, T.I., 40, has reinvented himself as a businessman and community leader in Atlanta, and he has starred in reality shows that focus on his parenting of a blended family with Ms. Harris, 45. Production of the show “T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle” was postponed by VH1 and MTV Entertainment following the sexual assault allegations earlier this year. More