Bill Cosby’s release is exactly why rape survivors don’t come forward | Moira Donegan

The conviction of a high-profile rapist sends a message women rarely hear: rape is wrong. Cosby’s release snatches that away

Bill Cosby was released from a Pennsylvania prison on Wednesday after the Pennsylvania supreme court vacated his 2018 conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. Cosby, who has been accused of a pattern of drugging women and then raping or sexually assaulting them while they were unconscious, is out on a technicality: the court found that a prosecutor mishandled incriminating testimony that the comedian had given in a 2004 civil suit, and hence threw out his 2018 criminal trial. But according to the court’s ruling, Cosby cannot be retried, either. His release on these charges is final. He will never serve another day in prison for the assault of Andrea Constand.

Related: ‘I am furious’: shock and anger after Bill Cosby’s conviction overturned

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2TsXCHL