How long was Bill Cosby in jail for?
American entertainer Bill Cosby has been released from jail, after serving more than two years of a three to 10-year sentence at a state prison near Philadelphia.
On June 30, 2o21, Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned Cosby’s sex assault conviction.
He had vowed to serve all 10 years rather than acknowledge any remorse over the 2004 encounter with accuser Andrea Constand.
He was charged in late 2015, and arrested just days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired.
Cosby, who was once beloved as America’s Dad, was convicted of drugging and molesting the Temple University employee at his suburban estate.
His release comes just a month after he was denied parole for refusing to participate in a therapy program for sexually violent predators.
Cosby, 83, was born William Henry Cosby Junior in Philadelphia in 1937.
He became a national treasure during his career, which saw him produce and star in the TV sitcom The Cosby Show from 1984 to 1992.
When was he found guilty of sexual assault?
Cosby was found guilty in 2018 of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for the drugging and sexual assault of his one-time friend Andrea Constand, a former Temple University administrator, at his Philadelphia home in 2004.
Around 60 women over five decades have publicly accused the Emmy award-winning actor of being a sexual predator, but statute of limitation laws meant that only one charge was ever brought to trial.
Cosby was accused of incapacitating Constand, then aged 30, with blue pills and then molesting her while she drifted in and out of consciousness at his Philadelphia mansion in 2004
“Bill Cosby took my beautiful, healthy young spirit and crushed it,” Constand told the court
Jurors heard Cosby paid Constand almost $3.4m (£2.4m) in a civil settlement in 2006, despite the comedian claiming the encounter was consensual
On April 26, 2018, Bill Cosby was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting Constand
The guilty verdict came less than a year after another jury was deadlocked on the charges
The retrial was before the same judge and district attorney as the first trial – but the judge allowed five additional accusers to give evidence
On April 27, Judge Steven O’Neill placed Cosby on house arrest at his Philadelphia mansion, ordering him to be outfitted with a GPS ankle bracelet to monitor compliance, ahead of sentencing
In May 2018 it was announced that Cosby had been expelled by the Oscars Academy
