Court overturns Bill Cosby’s conviction

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overturned the sentencing of artist Bill Cosby for sexual assault.

The highest court in the US state of Pennsylvania has overturned the conviction of American actor and artist Bill Cosby (83) for sexual assault. Due to an agreement with the attorney general who previously handled the case, Cosby was not supposed to be charged in the matter — the court argued in an 80-page statement Wednesday. The artist must be released.

In 2018, Cosby was convicted of sexual assault. He has been in prison since September 2018, where he was sentenced to a minimum term of three years and a maximum of ten years. Several appeals and requests for early release were rejected.

More than 60 women have accused Cosby of various types of sexual assault. However, in the process, there was only one case from 2004. The jury held that it was proven that Cosby rendered a woman impotent by means of pills and then sexually coerced her. The artist has always denied the allegations.

Among other things, the judges agreed with Cosby’s attorney that five women should not be accepted as witnesses at the trial.

Statements from civil proceedings

The judges also noted that the attorney general who was investigating at the time had promised, after the allegations were made public in 2005, not to file a criminal case against Cosby if he testified in a civil case for compensation. Subsequently, the Public Prosecutor began criminal proceedings. Cosby’s statements of civil proceedings against him were used.

Cosby has been accused of sexual assault by more than 60 women, but most cases are prohibited by law. The actor has been revered as the “Father of America” ​​in the United States for decades. In his role as a lovable doctor and a kind family man on “The Bill Cosby Show”, he was one of the most popular TV stars in the country. His conviction was the first conviction against a celebrity since the start of the #MeToo movement.