HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA: After a shocking verdict, Bill Cosby was released from prison after his conviction was overturned by Pennsylvania's highest court due to an "unfair trial" on Wednesday, June 30. The event catapults a harrowing, uncertain future for his victims after Cosby, who was convicted in 2018 for a number of serious sex offenses, was freed after serving only two years of a three to 10-year sentence at a state prison near Philadelphia.
At his suburban house, Cosby, 83, was found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting a Temple University employee. Instead of expressing regret for the 2004 incident involving the complainant Andrea Constand, the actor promised to serve the entire ten-year sentence.
READ MORE
Why was Bill Cosby denied parole? Disgraced comedian refused to take sex offender therapy
Will Harvey Weinstein be cleared next? Here’s how Bill Cosby verdict could impact his case
I have never changed my stance nor my story. I have always maintained my innocence.
Thank you to all my fans, supporters and friends who stood by me through this ordeal. Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for upholding the rule of law. #BillCosby
Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted during the time of #MeToo campaign. In 2015, he was charged after a prosecutor used new evidence to get him arrested just days before the 12-year statute of limitations ran out. After Wednesday's win, Cosby tweeted a photo of himself thanking his supporters. Here's what his victims have to say.
'Not only disappointing, but of concern'
Andrea Constand was a Temple University women's basketball team administrator when she claims Cosby, whom she considered a mentor, drugged and sexually attacked her in his Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, home in 2004. "Today's majority decision regarding Bill Cosby is not only disappointing but of concern in that it may discourage those who seek justice for sexual assault in the criminal justice system from reporting or participating in the prosecution of the assailant or may force a victim to choose between filing either a criminal or civil action," she said, according to a report by the CNN.
'Kicked in the stomach'
Janice Dickinson originally accused Cosby of drugging and raping her in 2014, saying that the incident occurred in 1982 at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, under the cover of career assistance. Marty Singer, Cosby's lawyer at the time, with whom the 83-year-old has since split ways had then categorically refuted Dickinson's charges. "I'm angry. I'm angry they let him out over a procedural. That's basically all I have to say," Dickinson told ET. "I can't get into the legalese about it. I can only speak from my heart and say that the statute of limitations is not fair. It's just not fair." She added: "I felt like I was kicked in the stomach, in my abdomen, by some psychic blow."
