On Wednesday June 30, 2021, comedian Bill Cosby was released from prison after serving more than two years of a three-to-ten-year sentence.

Cosby, considered a comedy legend by most of the American public since the 1960s, was convicted on three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault. He drugged and molested ex-basketball player Andrea Constand in 2004, who had knowingly accepted pills from Cosby that were intended to help her relax.

The allegations and his conviction came as a shock and a hurtful blow to the Black community. How could the man who brought us characters had facial features proportionate to their faces) and Fat Albert (an animated series where Black characters had facial features proportionate to their faces) and The Cosby Show (a sitcom with ratings rivaling the Superbowl every Thursday night) — for which he partnered with a clinical psychologist to make sure that there weren't any negative images of the Black community — also be tried for and convicted of sexual assault?

Cosby's fall from grace has been called both justice and an orchestrated attack on his rich legacy, which includes donating millions of dollars to Black institutions of higher education and being directly responsible for thousands of Black children going to college.

Many had their hearts broken by his conviction. So how is it possible that a man found guilty on three counts of drugging and sexual assault has now been allowed to go free?

After Constand came forward to the police regarding her assault in 2005, the state prosecutor did not press criminal charges. Constand then sued Cosby for sexual battery and defamation, requesting $150,000. They reached a settlement in 2006 that included a confidentiality agreement.

When more accusations surfaced against Cosby in 2014 and 2015, the local authorities reopened Constand's case — it being the only one still within the statute of limitations — and charged him days before the 12-year limit on her allegations.

In the latest ruling, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania found not only that the former prosecutor had in 2006 agreed not to charge Cosby if he testified in the civil lawsuit (in which he admitted to giving quaaludes to Constand, who knowingly accepted) but also that testimony from unrelated accusers had tainted the trial.

While this ruling will remain hard for many to accept, we can only hope the decision does not affect victims reporting their assaults but instead encourages them to come forward immediately to provide indisputable evidence in their cases — especially considering that Harvey Weinstein's lawyers are praising the ruling (they have appealed his rape conviction, claiming the trial was unfair and that judges favored the prosecutors).