Bill Cosby’s former prosecutor Kristen Gibbons Feden explained the disgraced actor’s early release from prison, telling MSNBC’s Chuck Todd that the Supreme Court believes Cosby “never should have been arrested” in the first place.

Cosby, who is set to be released from confinement on Wednesday, was sentenced to prison in 2018 for aggravated assault, as several women accused him of criminal sexual acts.

On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the convictions, ordering for his release from prison, as they found an agreement with a previous prosecutor, which prevented Cosby from being charged in the case.

Todd spoke to Cosby’s former prosecutor following the announcement, who explained that the Supreme Court believes Cosby “never should have been arrested.”

“Unfortunately I have not gotten through the entirety of the 79-page opinion, but what I can tell you just from glancing at it, obviously it’s playing a crucial role in the trial and the entirety of the investigation, is that, while I 100 percent respect the Supreme Court, every justice on the Supreme Court, I can’t tell you what the agreement said, because I don’t believe there was one.”

She went on to note that the Supreme Court does claim that an agreement was reached, yet added that there was nothing written down, or evidence of court approval regarding that agreement, which is common practice for cases such as Cosby’s.

“Essentially what the Supreme Court is saying is that Bill Cosby should never have been arrested because there was a non-prosecutorial agreement in place that prohibited our office from prosecuting him in 2015,” she added. “Again, this was argued in the trial court who found that there was no prosecution agreement.”

She pointed to the fact that the trial court found Cosby guilty — a verdict approved by the Superior Court of Pennsylvania — yet the Supreme Court still overturned the ruling.

“One thing I do want to emphasize is that what the court is saying is that we should have never went through with the trial. What the court is not saying is that Andrea Constand was not credible,” she added. “The jury still found that he sexually assaulted Andrea Constand. I understand that the conviction will not stand, but again, I want to emphasize, the jury found that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted Andrea Constand after administering an intoxicant to her.”

She explained that she wanted to emphasize that fact for sexual assault and crime survivors who found peace through the initial ruling, adding that she hopes they are still able to find justice through that.

“Essentially what happened during the trial back in 2015, maybe 2016, there was something called a Habeas hearing — a due process type hearing — and during that hearing, we as a commonwealth, put on a number of witnesses to establish that, in fact, there was no agreement between the prosecutor’s office and the defendant that there would be no prosecution,” Feden said. “But the defendant said that there was. And what they pointed to was that, and this came out in testimony, was one that Bruce Castor, who was the district attorney at the time, had told Bill Cosby that he was not going to prosecute him if there was — if he participated or cooperated in a civil proceeding against Andrea Constand.”

Feden explained that in addition to the hearing, Castor also testified that his press release was an indication not to prosecute, although the release specifies Castor’s right to reconsider his opinion should the need arise.

“In addition to that, Lisa Furman, who is now Judge Furman, who was his first assistant, and who was the district attorney at the time of Cosby’s arrest, was also not familiar with any nonprosecutorial agreement,” she added. “That’s really important because generally if the D.A. is going to make such a prosecution agreement, he’s going to alert his first assistant.”

Feden went on to reveal that Castor only vocalized that stance once — while running for district attorney against Kevin Steele. 

“And perhaps that was why, because he had to answer that question, probably as part of his political campaign, why didn’t you — why didn’t you press charges against Bill Cosby when Andrea Constand made the report in 2005,” she said. “And perhaps that was his answer.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.

The post Former Cosby Prosecutor Explains Release From Prison: Supreme Court is Saying ‘Bill Cosby Should Never Have Been Arrested’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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