- Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele commented on
Bill Cosby 's release on Wednesday. - Steele helped bring charges against the former actor in 2015, resulting in a
conviction for aggravated indecent assault. - The
Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned Cosby's conviction on Wednesday, citing a a promise made by a former district attorney.
The district attorney in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where Bill Cosby was convicted of
Cosby, 83, was serving an up to decade-long sentence for aggravated indecent assault after being convicted in the 2004 sexual assault of Andrea Constand.
District attorney Kevin R. Steele played an integral role in bringing charges against the former "Cosby Show" actor in 2015, just days before the 12-year statute of limitation on the 2004 incident ran out.
"He was found guilty by a jury and now goes free on a procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime," Steele said in a statement.
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, of which there is no evidence in writing of the pledge by Steele's predecessor.
In their decision, 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."
Steele focused his statement primarily on Constand and the other women who came forward, praising their "bravery in coming forward and remaining steadfast throughout this long ordeal."
"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 said on Wednesday, shortly after Cosby's release.
He added: "We still believe that no one is above the law-including those who are rich, famous and powerful."