Bill Cosby's sexual assault conviction has been thrown out, allowing him to walk free from prison.
He had spent about three years locked up after he was found guilty of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion.
Mr Cosby, 83, was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era, and his conviction was seen as a turning point in the movement to hold powerful men accountable for sexual misconduct.
Here's a look at the case against Mr Cosby and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision.
Why did the court overturn the conviction?
The split court found Mr Cosby was unfairly prosecuted because a previous district attorney had promised the comedian he wouldn't be charged over Ms Constand's accusations.
Mr Cosby was charged by a subsequent prosecutor, who claimed he wasn't bound by that agreement.
The court disagreed.
The judges found that Mr Cosby relied on that promise when he agreed to testify without invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a lawsuit brought against him by Ms Constand.
The court concluded that the prosecutor who later brought the charges was obligated to stick to the non-prosecution agreement, so the conviction could not stand.
The justices wrote that "denying the defendant the benefit of that decision is an affront to fundamental fairness, particularly when it results in a criminal prosecution that was foregone for more than a decade".
Reuters: Mark Makela
)What's the deal with the non-prosecution agreement?
The promise not to prosecute Mr Cosby was made in 2005 by Bruce Castor, who was then the top prosecutor for Montgomery County.
Mr Castor was also on the legal team that defended former president Donald Trump during his historic second impeachment trial over the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol by his supporters.
During a court hearing weeks after Mr Cosby's 2015 arrest, Mr Castor testified that he promised Mr Cosby he wouldn't be prosecuted in the hopes that it would persuade the actor to testify in a civil case brought by Ms Constand, and allow her to win damages.
Mr Castor acknowledged the only place the matter was put in writing was in the 2005 press release announcing his decision not to prosecute, but said his decision was meant to shield Mr Cosby from prosecution "for all time".
AP: Senate Television
)His successor noted, during the appeal arguments, that Mr Castor went on to say in the press release that he could revisit the decision in the future.
Mr Castor had said that Ms Constand's case would be difficult to prove in court because she waited a year to come forward and stayed in contact with Mr Cosby.
The first jurors who heard the case may have agreed with him, as they could not reach a verdict in 2017.
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)But a second jury, empanelled after the #MeToo movement exploded, found Mr Cosby guilty at his 2018 retrial.
Ms Constand settled her civil case against Ms Cosby for more than $US3 million ($4 million).
Mr Castor's successor, District Attorney Kevin Steele, charged Mr Cosby in 2015 after a federal judge, acting on a request from The Associated Press, unsealed documents from Ms Constand's 2005 lawsuit against Mr Cosby, revealing his damaging testimony about sexual encounters with Ms Constand and others.
Mr Castor has said Mr Cosby "would've had to have been nuts to say those things if there was any chance he could've been prosecuted".
What does this mean for Cosby's accuser?
In a statement, Ms Constand and her lawyers called the ruling disappointing, and they, like many other advocates, expressed fear that it could discourage sexual assault victims from coming forward.
"We urge all victims to have their voices heard," they added.
AP: David Maialetti/Philadelphia Inquirer
)However, Symone Redwine, an attorney and legal expert, said that in retrospect Ms Constand had received all the "relief" she could.
Ms Redwine said Mr Cosby's accuser had received financial compensation from the civil case, and Mr Cosby had also spent several years in prison.
"In this day and age, he'll never be able to work again," she said.
"He is forever tarnished.
How rare is this?
Extremely rare.
Wesley Oliver, a Pennsylvania law professor who has followed Mr Cosby's case closely over the years, said he had never heard of a high court in Pennsylvania or anywhere else grappling with a prosecutor's informal promise not to prosecute.
"It breaks new ground entirely," said Professor Oliver, who teaches at Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh.
"It sets precedent not just for Pennsylvania but probably other states."
He said the ruling should drive home to prosecutors the risks of suggesting at news conferences, in press releases or verbally in private that they will not prosecute.
Can Cosby be tried again?
It's highly unlikely.
The decision bars him from being tried again over Ms Constand's complaint, finding it to be the "only remedy that comports with society's reasonable expectations of its elected prosecutors and our criminal justice system".
Reuters: Mark Makela
)Mr Cosby turns 84 next month. However, his lawyer said he remained in good health, except for vision problems that have rendered him legally blind.
The trial judge deemed him a sexually violent predator who could still pose a danger to women given his wealth, power and fame, and ordered that he be on a lifetime sex offender registry and check in monthly with authorities.
The decision negates that finding.
However, the decision does not prevent anyone else filing a new complaint against Mr Cosby.
The accusations so far raised by dozens of other women, including the five who testified at his 2018 trial, often go back decades and are most likely too remote to prosecute.
"If there are any other victims besides Andrea Constand out there where the statute of limitations has not expired, I'm certain that those prosecutors are probably in their offices today reevaluating those cases to determine if they want to press charges against Bill Cosby for them," said Ms Redwine.
ABC/AP
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2021-07-01 01:49:09Z
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