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Bill Cosby was freed from prison Wednesday after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction, a stunning reversal in a case that marked the first celebrity trial in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
The 83-year-old comedian once known as “America’s Dad” served nearly three years of a three-to 10-year sentence after being found guilty of drugging and assaulting Temple University sports administrator Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
Bill Cosby, second left, and spokesperson Andrew Wyatt, third left, approach members of the media gathered outside Cosby’s home in Elkins Park, Pa., Wednesday, June 30, 2021, after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his sex assault conviction.
(Matt Rourke / Associated Press)
In their 79-page opinion, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court wrote that a “non-prosecution agreement” that had been struck between Cosby and former Montgomery County D.A. Bruce Castor meant that the actor never should have been changed in the case. The judges barred any future prosecution.
The court’s ruling overturned the first significant criminal conviction of the #MeToo era, and comes on the heels of a judge’s decision to extradite Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein to stand trial in California on charges that he sexually assaulted five women in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.
Protesters outside of Bill Cosby’s home on June 30, 2021 in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania. Bill Cosby was released from prison after court overturns his sex assault conviction.
(Michael Abbott/Getty Images)
Bill Cosby accuser Andrea Constand, center, and supporters embrace after Cosby was found guilty in his sexual assault retrial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa. on April, 26, 2018.
(Mark Makela/Pool Photo)
Bill Cosby spokesperson Andrew Wyatt celebrates with people gathered outside the home of the entertainer in Elkins Park, Pa.
(Matt Rourke / Associated Press)
A policeman patrols past the home of Bill Cosby in Elkins Park, Pa.
(Matt Rourke / Associated Press)
Security personnel are positioned at an entrance to the State Correctional Institution at Phoenix in Collegeville, Pa. The 83-year-old Cosby has served more than two years at the state prison near Philadelphia.
(Matt Rourke / Associated Press)
Spokesperson Andrew Wyatt and attorney Jennifer Bonjean speak outside of Bill Cosby’s home on June 30, 2021 in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania.
(Michael Abbott/Getty Images)
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