Bill Cosby released from prison in Pennsylvania after his sexual-assault conviction was overturned, prison system says

• Cosby was released from prison Wednesday after a vote to overturn his sexual-assault conviction.
• He was serving three to 10 years for aggravated indecent assault after being convicted in 2018.
• The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections said he was released just before 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Bill Cosby was released from the Pennsylvania prison system on Wednesday after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out his conviction earlier in the day, the Pennsylvania prison system told The Associated Press.

Cosby, 83, was serving a three- to 10-year sentence for aggravated indecent assault after being convicted in the 2004 sexual assault of Andrea Constand.

He was released just before 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said in a statement that Cosby "now goes free on a procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime."

"I want to commend Cosby's victim Andrea Constand 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," Steele said in the statement. "My hope is that this decision will not dampen the reporting of sexual assaults by victims. Prosecutors in my office will continue to follow the evidence wherever and to whomever it leads."

Steele added: "We still believe that no one is above the law - including those who are rich, famous and powerful."

Cosby was taken into custody in 2015 after Steele presented evidence that brought charges to the former "Cosby Show" actor just days before the 12-year statute of limitations ran out.

The Associated Press reported that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said Steele had to abide by the former district attorney's promise not to charge Cosby. There is no evidence of a written pledge by Steele's predecessor.

The court called Cosby's arrest "an affront to fundamental fairness, particularly when it results in a criminal prosecution that was forgone for more than a decade," and justices said overturning Cosby's conviction "is the only remedy that comports with society's reasonable expectations of its elected prosecutors and our criminal justice system," according to the AP report.

Jennifer Bonjean, Cosby's appeal lawyer, said her client "should never have been prosecuted for these offenses."

"District attorneys can't change it up simply because of their political motivation," she said.