The highest court in the US state of Pennsylvania has overturned the conviction of US actor and entertainer Bill Cosby (83) for sexual assault.
Due to an agreement with a public prosecutor who previously dealt with the case, Cosby should not have been charged in this matter - the court argued in an 80-page statement on Wednesday.
The entertainer must be released.
In 2018 Cosby was convicted of sexual assault.
He has been in prison since September 2018, where he is sentenced to a minimum of three and a maximum of ten years in prison.
Numerous appeals and early release applications had been denied.
More than 60 women had accused Cosby of various types of sexual assault.
In the process, however, there was only one case from 2004. The jury saw it as proven that Cosby had made a woman helpless with pills and then sexually coerced.
The entertainer had always denied the allegations.
The judges also pointed out that the then investigating public prosecutor had promised after the uncovering of the allegations in 2005 not to bring a criminal case against Cosby if he testifies in a civil case for compensation.
The prosecutor's successor later initiated criminal proceedings.
Statements by Cosby from the civil proceedings were used against him.
Cosby has been accused of sexual abuse by more than 60 women, but most of the cases are statute-barred.
The actor was revered in the United States for decades as "America's Dad." In the role as the gracious doctor and good-natured family man on "The Bill Cosby Show," he was one of the most popular television stars in the country. His conviction was the first guilty verdict against you Celebrities after the #MeToo movement began.