83-year-old William Henry Cosby Jr. was finally freed from prison after serving more than two years over sexual assault charges which was overruled by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The retired stand-up comedian, actor and author was sent to the State Correctional Institution Phoenix in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in September to three to ten years in jail on three counts of sexual assault. He was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand who was a former basketball player in his home back in 2004.
Bill Cosby was the first high-profile superstar conviction of the #MeToo which was created to raise awareness of any sexual harassment in workplaces. Several people, mostly women also came out to claim being sexually molested by Bill but the case of Andrea Constand was the vital case that had kept him behind bars.
The former comedian of the Cosby show had been denied fair trial by the seven-member Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2018 on a count of ‘Process Violation’ claiming that his lawyers made an agreement with the state’s previous prosecutor that he (Bill Cosby) will never be charge of the case. But a prosecutor in 2015 filed charges after Andrea Constand reported his testimony in a lawsuit against Cosby.
According to Pennsylvania’s highest Court 79-page findings;
“There is only one way to restore Cosby’s status quo ante, totally. He must be freed, and any further prosecution on these charges must be prohibited. We do not refute that the remedy is rare and severe but it is warranted here.”
Testimonies from accusers came flying in and were said to have tainted the trial. While one was granted to testify in Bill’s first trial, five more were allowed during his second trial but the judges hinted that their testimonies were not taken note of since they were not directly related to the case.
A woman Attorney, Gloria Allred;representing those accusers stated on USA TODAY that regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision, it is important to fight for justice even though the Courtoverturned the conviction on technical grounds which did notvindicate his conducts should not be interpreted that he did not engage in the acts.
According to Bill Cosby, he still maintained his stance, he said;
“I have never changed my story. I have always maintained my innocence.Thank you to all my fans, friends and supporters who stood by me throughout this ordeal.Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for upholding the rule of law.” the former actor went further to tweet “A terrible wrong is being righted – a miscarriage of justice is corrected!”