(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A Chicago-based advocacy organization for sexual-assault survivors is condemning the court decision that freed Bill Cosby from prison Wednesday.
"It's really a travesty of justice for survivors — not only survivors in the case of Bill Cosby, but for survivors across the country and, frankly, across the world,” said Angela Rose, founder of Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment (PAVE).
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out the comedian’s 2018 sexual assault conviction and released him from prison, ruling that a prosecutor wrongly used civil-case testimony at trial.
The high court said the district attorney was bound by his predecessor’s promise not to criminally charge Cosby.
Rose, a survivor herself, said the reversal could have a chilling effect on people who have been victimized.
“We know that sexual assault is the most under-reported crime as it is,” she said. “We live in a very victim-blaming society, unfortunately, and so we do fear that this is going to make other victims fearful of coming forward.”
People in Cosby’s corner, including his lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, said justice had been served.
“We are thrilled to have Mr. Cosby home,” The Associated Press reported Bonjean as saying. “He served three years of an unjust sentence and he did it with dignity and principle.”
Cosby had been accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Temple University sports administrator Andrea Constand in 2004.
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