On June 30, Pennsylvania's highest court overturned Bill Cosby's sex-assault conviction after finding an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case, ABC7NY.com reported.
Cosby has served more than two years of a three- to 10-year sentence at a state prison near Philadelphia after being convicted of assaulting Andrea Constand, an out lesbian.
The actor/comedian was charged in late 2015, when a prosecutor who had newly unsealed evidenceCosby's deposition from her lawsuitarrested him days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired.
The trial judge had allowed just one other accuser to testify at Cosby's first trial, when the jury deadlocked. However, he then allowed five other accusers to testify at the retrial about their experiences with Cosby in the 1980s.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said that testimony tainted the trial, even though a lower court had found it appropriate to show a pattern of drugging and molesting women. Prosecutors did not immediately say if they would appeal this latest ruling.
Constand posted a long message on her Twitter account saying the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision to overturn Cosby's sexual assault conviction was based on "a procedural technicality," Deadline noted.
She called the ruling "not only disappointing but of concern because 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."
Celebrities expressed their thoughts over the court's decision. Actress Amber Tamblyn, who has been public about being sexually assaulted herself, wrote, "I am furious to hear this news. I personally know women who this man drugged and raped while unconscious. Shame on the court and this decision."
However, Phylicia Rashadwho played Cosby's TV wife on The Cosby Showwrote, "FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted- a miscarriage of justice is corrected!"