Wearing a white T-shirt from his alma mater, Philadelphia's
Central High School, Cosby appeared outside his Cheltenham Township home,
escorted by his spokesman, Andrew Wyatt, and his appellate attorney, Jennifer
Bonjean. He smiled and nodded at supporters but said nothing.
Bill Cosby has defiantly declared his innocence after he was
released from prison overnight in a stunning reversal of fortune for the
comedian once known as "America's Dad".
Cosby's lawyers say the disgraced comedian served
"three years of an unjust sentence" after he walked free.
News of Cosby's release from prison has shocked many across
the US, especially his accusers.
Pennsylvania's highest court threw out Cosby's sexual
assault conviction and released him from prison.
The court ruled that the prosecutor who brought the case was
bound by his predecessor's agreement not to charge Cosby.
Lawyer Brian Perry addressed the media alongside Cosby hours
after he was released.
"We've said from day one, we just didn't think he was
treated fairly," he said.
"And that... the system has to be fair, and
fortunately, the Supreme Court agreed with us.
"He's happy, his wife is happy. The system only works
if it's fair to all sides. That's the bottom line."
The comedian didn't speak during the press conference but
later tweeted to say he has never changed his "stance nor my story".
"I have always maintained my innocence," Cosby
said.
"Thank you to all my fans, supporters and friends who
stood by me through this ordeal."
Accusers and their attorneys express outrage
The reaction from accusers and their attorneys to the
announcement is in stark contrast to the elation many of them felt in 2018 when
the comedian was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault
for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in a
Philadelphia suburb in 2004.
The women, along with their attorneys, have spoken out about
Cosby's release.
Lisa Bloom told CNN's Ana Cabrera she is "disgusted and
shocked" by the ruling.
"The jury heard all of the evidence, considered
everything, convicted him, and now that this day has come I just think it's a
slap in the face for all the victims," Ms Bloom, one of the attorneys,
said.
"I'm glad he got some time served," she said, but
it was only "a tiny, tiny measure of the justice that he should have
received."
Ms Bloom said she thought it was "going to be a very
hard day. I think it's going to be a retriggering event for all of them who've
testified that he had drugged and raped them".
She also tweeted and told CNN that Cosby's release shows the
criminal justice system favours the rich and powerful.
"And it just goes to show, if you have money and power
in the criminal justice system and you can afford attorneys to fight and fight
for years and years, eventually you may find a loophole and a way to get a
conviction overturned, and that's what's happened here," Ms Bloom said.
In a statement obtained by CNN, attorney Gloria Allred said
the following:
"This decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court today
to overturn the conviction of Bill Cosby must be devastating for Bill Cosby's
accusers," she said.
"My heart especially goes out to those who bravely
testified in both of his criminal cases. I represented a majority of the prior
bad act accusers who testified.
"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."
Victoria Valentino, who accused Cosby of raping her in the
1960s, said she felt "outraged" and "stunned".
"My stomach is in knots. The work that we have done to
uplift women has been overturned by a legal glitch. We now have a serial
predator on the street," she said.
Ms Valentino said the announcement came out of left field
and she described it as a gut punch.
"What does that say about a woman's worth? A woman's
value? Do our lives mean nothing? All of the lives that he damaged, not to
mention our children and how we respond to our children and our personal
relationships. He's impacted the lives of well over 60 women."
Ms Valentino went on to say that when Cosby's guilty verdict
came three years ago, she and other accusers — as well as victims of other
powerful men, such as Harvey Weinstein — felt vindicated.
"So here we are, back to square one," she said.
Janice Baker-Kinney accused Cosby of giving her pills and
raping her in the 1980s.
She told CNN affiliate WPVI-TV it's taking her some time to
absorb news of Cosby's release.
"I am stunned, I am shocked and my stomach is in a
knot," she said.
Cosby released
Cosby, 83, had served nearly three years of a three- to
10-year sentence after being found guilty of drugging and violating Temple
University sports administrator Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia
home in 2004.
He was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo
era.
The former Cosby Show star was arrested in 2015, when a
district attorney armed with newly unsealed evidence — the comic's damaging
deposition in a lawsuit filed by Ms Constand — brought charges against him days
before the 12-year statute of limitations was about to run out.
But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said overnight that
District Attorney Kevin Steele, who made the decision to arrest Cosby, was
obligated to stand by his predecessor's promise not to charge Cosby, though
there was no evidence that promise was ever put in writing.
Justice David Wecht, writing for a split court, said Cosby
had relied on the former district attorney's decision not to charge him when
the comedian gave his potentially incriminating testimony in Ms Constand's
civil case.
The court called Cosby's subsequent arrest "an affront
to fundamental fairness, particularly when it results in a criminal prosecution
that was forgone for more than a decade."
The justices said that overturning the conviction, and
barring any further prosecution, "is the only remedy that comports with
society's reasonable expectations of its elected prosecutors and our criminal
justice system".
He was promptly set free from the state prison in suburban
Montgomery County and returned to his home with no immediate comment.
His appeals lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, said Cosby should
never have been prosecuted.
"District attorneys can't change it up simply because
of their political motivation," she said, adding that Cosby remains in
excellent health, apart from being legally blind.
In a statement, Mr Steele said Cosby went free "on a
procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime."
He commended Ms Constand for coming forward and added:
"My hope is that this decision will not dampen the reporting of sexual
assaults by victims. ... We still believe that no one is above the law —
including those who are rich, famous and powerful."
Ms Constand and her lawyer did not immediately return
messages seeking comment.
"FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted — a
miscarriage of justice is corrected!" the actor's Cosby Show co-star
Phylicia Rashad tweeted.
"I am furious to hear this news," actor Amber
Tamblyn, a founder of Time's Up, an advocacy group for victims of sexual
assault, said in a Twitter post.
"I personally know women who this man drugged and raped
while unconscious. Shame on the court and this decision."
In sentencing Cosby, the trial judge had ruled him a
sexually violent predator who could not be safely allowed out in public and
needed to report to authorities for the rest of his life.
Four Supreme Court justices formed the majority that ruled
in Cosby's favour, while three others dissented in whole or in part.
Peter Goldberger, a suburban Philadelphia lawyer with an
expertise in criminal appeals, said prosecutors could ask the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court for reargument or reconsideration, but it would be a very long
shot.
"I can't imagine that with such a lengthy opinion, with
a thoughtful concurring opinion and a thoughtful dissenting opinion, that you
could honestly say they made a simple mistake that would change their minds if
they point it out to them," Mr Goldberger said.
Even though Cosby was charged only with the assault on Ms
Constand, the judge at his trial allowed five other accusers to testify that
they, too, were similarly victimised by Cosby in the 1980s.
Prosecutors called them as witnesses to establish what they
said was a pattern of behaviour on Cosby's part.
Cosby's lawyers had argued on appeal that the use of the
five additional accusers was improper.
But the Pennsylvania high court did not weigh in on the
question, saying it was moot given the justices' finding that Cosby should not
have been prosecuted in the first place.
In New York, the judge at last year's trial of Hollywood
mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose case helped sparked the #MeToo movement in 2017,
let four other accusers testify. Weinstein was convicted and sentenced to 23
years in prison.
In May, Cosby was denied parole after refusing to
participate in sex offender programs behind bars.
He said he would resist the treatment programs and refuse to
acknowledge wrongdoing even if it meant serving the full 10 years.
Prosecutors said Cosby repeatedly used his fame and family
man persona to manipulate young women, holding himself out as a mentor before
betraying them.
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.
The suburban Philadelphia prosecutor who originally looked
into Ms Constand's allegations, Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce
Castor, considered the case flawed because Ms 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.
Questioned under oath as part of that lawsuit, Cosby said he
used to offer quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with.
He eventually settled with Ms Constand for US$3.4 million.
Portions of the deposition later became public at the
request of The Associated Press and spelled Cosby's downfall, opening the
floodgates on accusations from other women and destroying the comic's good-guy
reputation and career.
More than 60 women came forward to say Cosby violated them.
The AP does not typically identify sexual assault victims
without their permission, which Ms Constand has granted.
Cosby, in the deposition, acknowledged giving quaaludes to a
19-year-old woman before having sex with her at a Las Vegas hotel in 1976.
Cosby called the encounter consensual.
Overnight, the woman, Therese Serignese, now 64, said the
court ruling "takes my breath away."
"I just think it's a miscarriage of justice. This is
about procedure. It's not about the truth of the women," she said.
She said she took solace in the fact Cosby served nearly
three years: "That's as good as it gets in America" for sex crime
victims, she said.
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