Bill Cosby is handcuffed after his 2018 conviction. Mark Makela / Getty Images
Disgraced comedian Bill Cosby’s attorney told CNN, “We believe he will be released from prison this afternoon.”
Attorney Brian Perry said he was on his way to the jail where Cosby was being held after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled to overturn his client’s conviction and verdict.
Perry had not yet been able to speak to his client and said that after his release he was not sure where his client was going.
“Yes, we are thrilled with the Supreme Court decision,” Perry told CNN. “We always believed that this is how the case would end.
“We are grateful and happy that not only was the conviction overturned, but he was also released,” which means “case closed”. Earlier, a Pennsylvania Court spokesman said there was no appeal in the state of Pennsylvania.
“We have a phenomenal calling team led by Jennifer Bonjean and Barb. compiled [Barbara] Zemlock – and we’re just delighted and happy for Mr. Cosby and his family. “
Cosby’s attorney told CNN the court overturned the conviction and verdict because they believed the comedians’ rights were violated.
Perry said the court was investigating the non-prosecution agreement Cosby made with a former prosecutor and how it relied on it during his civil testimony.
“The whole question was, can one DA make a deal and another say, ‘I don’t care, I’ll do a new deal'”
The Supreme Court “basically said it wasn’t fair to him” and at the end of the day “it has to be fair”.
CNN previously reported that a 2015 email sent by former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor to successor Risa Vetri Ferman described an apparent verbal agreement the prosecutor had with Cosby’s attorneys for a decade earlier Cosby had met to testify in a civil sexual assault lawsuit brought against him in 2005.
In the email, Castor writes that with the deal he wanted to create an atmosphere in which Cosby prosecutor Andrea Constand would have the best chance of asserting her civil lawsuit against the 78-year-old comedian by offering the prospect of an appeal von Cosby eliminated his 5th amending right
The testimony became an important piece of evidence cited by prosecutors as a trigger for the reopening of the case.
Cosby was ultimately criminally charged in connection with the incident and then sentenced to 10 years in state prison in 2018 for drugging and sexually abusing Constand in his home in 2004 – all of whom have now been acquitted by the highest level in a state court were.