Bill Cosby released: Actor speaks out on his ‘innocence’ after sex assault conviction overturned

Bill Cosby accuser Victoria Valentino has branded the ruling to overturn his sexual assault conviction an “injustice”.

“I am deeply distressed,” she has said.

Mr Cosby had been convicted of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand, a Temple University employee, but Ms Valentino was one of dozens of other people to accuse him of sexual misconduct.

I’m absolutely in shock … My stomach is lurching and I am deeply distressed about the injustice of the whole thing,” Ms Valentino said.

Read more:

Bill Cosby has been released from prison, the Pennsylvania prison system has said.

Mr Cosby was expected to be released within hours after his sexual assault conviction was overturned.

The Associated Press reported that the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has confirmed he has been released.

Cosby Show actor Phylicia Rashad expressed her support for Bill Cosby’s release on Wednesday, writing on Twitter that a “terrible wrong” had been “righted”.

Ms Rashad played Mr Cosby’s wife on the show for more than a decade.

Read more on her comments here:

RAINN, the largest anti-sexual violence organisation in the US, has lamented the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Bill Cosby’s sexual assault conviction, calling it “deeply” disappointing.

“We are deeply disappointed in today’s ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and by the message this decision sends to the brave survivors who came forward to seek justice for what Bill Cosby did to them,” Scott Berkowitz, the president of RAINN said in a statement shared with The Independent.

“This is not justice,” he said.

Bill Cosby has been released from prison, with his 2018 sexual assault conviction overturned - but what happens now and could he potentially be in line to receive a payout?

Graeme Massie looks at what might lie ahead for Mr Cosby:

E Jean Carroll, the journalist who has previously accused former President Donald Trump of sexually assault, has hit out at the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision to allow Bill Cosby to walk free.

“THIS is why women do not come forward,” she said in a tweet, sharing news of the court decision to overturn Mr Cosby’s 2018 sexual assault conviction.

Ms Carroll published an account of her allegations against Mr Trump on 21 June, 2019, accusing him of sexually assaulting her at a Bergdorf Goodman store in New York City in the mid-1990s.

Mr Trump has denied the allegations against him.

Montgomery County DA Kevin Steele has commented on Bill Cosby’s release from prison, saying: “He was found guilty by a jury and now goes free on a procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime”.

He said he wanted to commend Andrea Constand, who had accused Mr Cosby of sexual assault, resulting in his 2018 conviction, “for her bravery in coming forward and remaining steadfast throughout this long ordeal, as well as all of the other women who have shared similar experiences.”

In addition to Ms Constand, dozens of other women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Mr Cosby.

When Bill Cosby was convicted of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, many doubted he would ever see a day outside prison again, with his sentence being for three years to a decade and the then-81-year-old admitting to be in poor health.

Today, that changed with Mr Cosby able to walk free after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his 2018 sexual assault conviction.

Chief US correspondent Andrew Buncombe has the story:

Bill Cosby returned home for the first time in almost three years after his 2018 sexual assault conviction was overturned.

Photos show Cosby exit his car in the driveway of his house after serving more than two years of a 10-year sentence at a state prison.

Bill Cosby accuser Janice Baker Kinney has said she is “shocked” by the decision to let the former television star walk free.

“I’m stunned, I’m shocked,” she said, speaking on Good Morning America.

“Just one little legalese can overturn this when so many people came forward, so many women have told their truths,” she said.