Bill Cosby To Be Released From Prison After Conviction Overturned

Bill Cosby will be released from prison, after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his conviction for sexual assault, after discovering an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case. This reversal comes as Cosby has served over two years in a state prison near Philadelphia, as part of a 3-to-10-year sentence. Cosby has maintained the hard stance of being willing to serve all of his time, rather than admit any remorse over the 2004 alleged assault of Temple University employee Andrea Constand, which he was charged with, in 2015.

While it was charges of assaulting Andrea Constand (drugging and engaging in non-consensual sex) that ultimately landed Bill Cosby in prison, the comedian and actor has had a string of sexual assault accusations that stretch back to the 1960s. In 2014, comedian Hannibal Buress (Spider-Man: No Way Home) did a stand-up comedy segment on Cosby’s unchecked alleged predatory behavior, which went viral on social media. That clip drew out a whole new wave of accusers, whose story spanned from the mid ’60s to the ’00s. Many of the incidents fell outside the statuteof limitations for prosecutions, but eventually upwards of 33 accusers banded together in numerous civil suits against Cosby – and that may be the key to why he’s now being released.

In July of last year, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that Cosby could appeal his sexual assault convinction in the Andrea Constand. One of the biggest areas of scrutiny in that appeal ruling was the supposed agreement made by a Montgomery County, PA, district attorney in the mid-2000s, not to prosecute Cosby for his contact with Constand. The agreement terms gave Cosby a perceived immunity from criminal prosecution, in exchange for his cooperation in a deposition during a civil lawsuit by Constand, at the time. That agreement with the Montgomery County DA appears to have swayed the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that Cosby’s 2018 criminal conviction by a Montgomery County jury must therefore be overturned.

Bill Cosby’s conviction came when the “#MeToo” movement was in full swing, calling out and/or punishing prominent or famous men for sexual misconduct. Cosby being jailed after decades of accusations seemed like a signal that times were indeed changing in regards to how society acknowledged and dealt with sexual misconduct and abuse; his release will no doubt be even more of a volatile cultural lightning rod, in that regard.

Via: NYP

Photo: ET Online