‘V’ FOR VILLAINY
Cosby freed from prison despite sex-assault confession
After a court threw out statements he had made about drugging women, Bill Cosby was released from prison yesterday.
“America’s Dad’’-turned-sex fiend Bill Cosby was sprung from prison Wednesday — hours after his indecent-assault conviction was overturned in a stunning court ruling.
The fallen TV funnyman, 83, had spent the past 2¹/2 years behind bars in Pennsylvania after his 2018 conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting former pal Andrea Constand in 2004.
But in a 79-page ruling, the Keystone State’s highest court said Cosby’s conviction had to be overturned based on a verbal immunity deal made with a then-county prosecutor in 2005.
“I have never changed my stance nor my story. I have always maintained my innocence,’’ Cosby said in a tweet Wednesday evening — with a photo showing his right fist held up high.
“Thank you to all my fans, supporters and friends who stood by me through this ordeal,’’ added the disgraced star, who went to his mansion in suburban Philadelphia after being released.
“Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for upholding the rule of law,’’ Cosby added.
The ruling by the seven-judge panel capped a long run of court battles for Cosby — who once reigned as the king of TV comedy, only to become reviled amid dozens of accusations by women alleging crimes against him, including rape.
The top court ruled in Cosby’s favor despite the fact that he had freely admitted he drugged and had sex with women in a damning deposition in Constand’s earlier civil case against him.
Five other women also testified at Cosby’s 2018 criminal trial that he drugged and sexually abused them, too, although he faced charges only related to Constand.
But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said a deal’s a deal — even if the new prosecutor had nothing to do with the immunity agreement and had landed a conviction.
“We do not dispute that this remedy is both severe and rare. But it is warranted here, indeed compelled,” the court said of its 6-1 decision to vacate Cosby’s conviction.
“We hold that, when a prosecutor makes an 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.
“The impact of the due process violation here is vast. The remedy must match that impact.”
Hours after the ruling was issued, the ex-con had been driven from the State Correctional Institute Phoenix in Montgomery County northwest of Philadelphia to his Elkins Park estate about an hour away.
The former star of TV hit series “The Cosby Show’’ — dressed in a maroon short-sleeve shirt and gray slacks with a white face mask on his chin — appeared feeble and needed help getting out his ride’s front passenger-side seat.
He mustered the strength to flash a victory sign with his right hand before entering the gated home he shares with his long-suffering wife, Camille, 77.
He then took a nap and a bath before making an appearance at a brief press conference his camp called.
Cosby did not respond to questions at the presser, only smirking when asked how he felt and throwing up a few more peace signs.
“This is justice, and justice for black America,’’ Cosby’s rep, Andrew Wyatt, said in a statement.
But Cosby later went on Philadelphia radio station WDAS-FM to downplay the race angle.
“This is not just a black thing,” Cosby said. “This is for all the people who have been imprisoned wrongfully regardless of race, color or creed.
“Because I met them in there. People who talked about what happened and what they did. And I know there are many liars out there,” Cosby said.
He celebrated his newfound freedom with a feast of salmon, pizza and collard greens — and now looks forward to “telling his story” on the road, his publicist told The Post.
“He will get back on the stage, on many stages across this country, and he will be telling his story,” Andrew Wyatt, one of his reps, said in an exclusive interview.
“You will see a documentary coming out soon. You will see a book coming out soon. There’s a lot of great projects that’s gonna be coming out soon.”
The pervert’s prison release incensed Constand and many of his other accusers.
“Today’s majority decision regarding Bill Cosby is 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,’’ tweeted Constand, a former women’s basketball-team operations manager for Temple University, Cosby’s alma mater.
Constand first reported the alleged assault to authorities in January 2005, but then-Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor Jr. declined to prosecute, saying he didn’t consider her case strong enough because she had waited a year to come forward and allegedly offered conflicting statements.
She sued Cosby for sexual battery weeks later, and the actor settled the case for an undisclosed amount in 2006.
But allegedly unbeknownst to Constand and her lawyer, Castor had cut an immunity deal with Cosby behind the scenes, paving the way for the actor’s deposition as long as it couldn’t ever be used against him criminally.
“I was hopeful that I had made Ms. Constand a millionaire’’ with her civil suit, Castor later explained.
In 2015, The Associated Press fought and won to get Cosby’s deposition unsealed — triggering an avalanche of new legal woes for the ex-star.
By then, the new county prosecutor, Kevin Steele, was in charge, and arrested Cosby in Constand’s case — days before its 12-year statute of limitations expired.
Cosby first went on trial in 2017, only to have the case end in a deadlock jury after Constand and just one other accuser were allowed to testify against him.
Steele retried Cosby in 2018, and the accused sex assaulter was convicted.
At least one juror later said the former star’s deposition was key to him getting convicted.
Wednesday’s ruling said Steele’s prosecution team had been obligated to uphold his predecessor’s promise not to ever charge the comedian in the case.
“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, particularly when it results in a criminal prosecution that was foregone for more than a decade,” the judges said.
“For these reasons, Cosby’s convictions and judgment of sentence are vacated, and he is discharged.”
The court has also barred any retrials in the case, explaining that such a ruling would be “the only remedy that comports with society’s reasonable expectations of its elected prosecutors and our criminal justice system.”