Bill Cosby’s release from prison explained
On Wednesday, one of television’s major stars, Bill Cosby, walked out of prison after three years of punishment.
He was released by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which threw out his 2018 convictions on charges of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004, when she was a Temple University employee, a sport administrator. The abrupt reversal of the first high-profile sexual assault conviction after the #MeToo movement has attracted many in the legal profession.
The comedian once known as “America’s Dad” ruling that the prosecutor brought the case was bound by his predecessor’s agreement not to charge Cosby.
The former “Cosby Show” star, 83, flashed the V for victory sign to a helicopter overhead as he trudged into his suburban Philadelphia home.
Bonjean said Cosby was “extremely happy to be home and looks forward to reuniting with his wife and children.”
The star – the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era — had no comment as he arrived, and just smiled and nodded later at a news conference outside, where he lawyer Jennifer Bonjean said: “We are thrilled to have Mr. Cosby home.”
“He served three years of an unjust sentence and he did it with dignity and principal,” she added.
Cosby was arrested in 2015, when a district attorney armed with newly unsealed evidence — the comic’s damaging deposition in a lawsuit brought by Constand — filed charges against him just days before the 12-year statute of limitations was about to run out.
Even though, Cosby was charged only with the assault on Constand, the judge at his trial allowed five other accusers to testify that they, to, were similarly victimized by Cosby in the 1980s, in sentencing Cosby.
The groundbreaking Black actor grew up in public housing in Philadelphia and made a fortune estimated at $400 million during his 50 years in the entertainment industry that included the TV shows “I Spy,” “The Cosby Show,” and “Fat Albert,” along with comedy albums and a multitude of television commercials.
Questioned under oath as part of the Constand lawsuit, Cosby said he used to offer quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with. He eventually settled with Constand for $3.4 million.
More than 60 women came forward to say Cosby violated them.
The suburban Philadelphia prosecutor who originally looked into Constand’s allegations, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor considered the case flawed because Constand waited a year to come forward and stayed in contact with Cosby afterward. Castor declined to prosecute and instead encouraged Constand to sue for damages.