Bill Cosby‘s ‘disgusted’ accusers have described his release as a ‘kick in the gut’ as he walked free from prison Wednesday, just hours after his sexual assault conviction was overturned in a stunning ruling.
Lisa Bloom, the attorney for three of the 83-year-old’s alleged victims including model Janice Dickinson slammed the decision to throw out his conviction as evidence that the ‘system still massively favors the rich and powerful’.
‘He is not released because he is innocent,’ she said in a statement on behalf of the women who she said were dealt a ‘slap in the face’ by the courts.
Another accuser Beth Ferrier said the outcome does not prove her alleged attacker’s innocence while fellow alleged victim Victoria Valentino told how her ‘stomach lurched’ on hearing Cosby was now free and could not be retried for his crimes.
The disgraced comedian, once known as ‘America’s dad’, left state prison in suburban Montgomery County Wednesday after serving less than three years of a three to 10 year sentence for drugging and sexually assaulting Temple University sports administrator Andrea Constand at his home in Pennsylvania in 2004.
His release came after Pennsylvania’s highest court threw out his conviction, ruling that the prosecutor who brought the case was bound by his predecessor’s promise not to prosecute him.
The shock overturning of his sentence comes as a major blow to the #MeToo movement and the at least 60 women who came forward to accuse the comedian of sexual assault and misconduct, with many of them speaking out Wednesday to condemn the ruling.
Bill Cosby outside his home in Pennsylvania on Wednesday with his legal team after being released from prison
Bill Cosby arrives home after being released from prison in Pennsylvania Wednesday
‘The 3 Bill Cosby accusers I represent and I are disgusted that he is a free man today.
He is not released because he is innocent,’ said Lisa Bloom in a statement.
‘He is released because a prosecutor promised him years ago that he would not be brought to justice, without even making a deal for him to do time.’
Bloom commended Dickinson’s ‘brave decision’ as one of five women who testified against Cosby at his 2018 trial as part of the prosecution’s efforts to show a pattern of behavior.
‘I will never forget my client Janice Dickinson’s brave decision to testify as a ‘prior bad acts’ witness in Cosby’s 2018 criminal trial.
‘She knew this could be used against her in her civil case. We decided we didn’t care. Getting him criminally convicted was essential.
‘We prepared her for the ugly cross-examination that would come.
We flew across the country, waited day after day for her turn,’ she wrote.
‘I watched the other ‘prior bad acts’ witnesses testify magnificently. Then Janice’s turn. She slayed. I was so proud of her and all the others.’
Dickinson testified that Cosby assaulted her in 1982 in Lake Tahoe when she was a 27-year-old model.
Bloom continued: ‘And of course, the victim in the case, Andrea Constand, so dignified, so strong, answering every demeaning question. The conviction.
The attorney for three of the 83-year-old’s alleged victims including model Janice Dickinson released a statement on Twitter saying they were ‘disgusted’ by the decision
Janice Dickinson (seen in 2018 at Cosby’s sentencing) testified at trial that Cosby assaulted her in 1982 in Lake Tahoe when she was a 27-year-old model
‘We couldn’t believe it: link alternatif joker123 justice, a tiny bit, finally.
And now this. A kick in the gut to victims and their advocates.’
She added: ‘Every day I fight for sexual assault victims and have to advise them of the ugly truth: the system still massively favors the rich and powerful.
You need a superhuman level of strength and courage.
‘Luckily many victims have it. Any other Cosby victims, time to come forward!’
Accuser Victoria Valentino also spoke out Wednesday, telling DailyMail.com she could ‘hardly find words’ to describe what she was feeling after hearing the news.
‘I just heard and my stomach lurched.
I’m so upset I can hardly find words,’ she said.
‘We had just gotten news that his parole had been denied and so we felt safe and now everything is upside down.’
Accuser Victoria Valentino (pictured left) told DailyMail.com she could ‘hardly find words’ to describe what she was feeling after hearing the news. Janice Baker-Kinney (right) wrote ‘RAPIST #RAPIST #RAPIST’ on Twitter
Valentino told Good Morning America Cosby’s history of alleged abuse was ‘well known’ in Hollywood
Valentino told DailyMail.com she no longer feels safe knowing that the man she described as a ‘serial sexual predator’ was walking free after just three years behind bars.
‘What is a woman’s worth?’ she questioned.
‘A legal glitch and now a serial sexual predator is free and I don’t know how any of us who have spoken so publicly can feel safe.’
Valentino was the sixteenth woman to come forward to accuse Cosby of assault.
She claimed he drugged her and a friend at a dinner in Hollywood before driving them to a nearby apartment where he sexually assaulted her in 1969.
Valentino told Cosby’s history of alleged abuse was ‘well known’ in Hollywood.
‘After I went public after all this stuff came down, I got so many stories from so many other people and it was well known,’ she said, adding that people would be told not ‘never to go to the Cosby house without eating and drinking first and never to take anything from them to eat or drink.’
Janice Baker-Kinney blasted Cosby a ‘rapist’ on Twitter and thanked the DA who had prosecuted him for saying his release ‘is irrelevant to the facts of the crime’