Actor Bill Cosby is set to be released from prison after Pennsylvania's highest court overturned his 2018 sexual assault conviction on Wednesday.

Cosby, 83, served nearly three years of the 10-year sentence rendered after the iconic comedian and actor was convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. Overall, more than 50 women have come forward with sexual assault claims against Cosby, although the statute of limitations had run out on most of those claims.

According to the New York Times, the Pennsylvania appeals court said that a “non-prosecution agreement” struck with a previous prosecutor in 2005 meant that Cosby should not have been charged in the case. The court also barred a retrial in the case, according to the Times.

Also Read: Bill Cosby Found Guilty in Sexual Assault Trial

After Cosby's 2018 conviction, several networks dropped reruns of the actor's successful 1980s comedy series The Cosby Show.

The Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, district attorney Kevin Steele issued a statement about Cosby's release: "He was found guilty by a jury and now goes free on a procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime. I want to commend Cosby's victim Andrea Constand for her bravery in coming forward and remaining steadfast throughout this long ordeal, as well as all of the other women who have shared similar experiences."

"My hope is that this decision will not dampen the reporting of sexual assaults by victims. Prosecutors in my office will continue to follow the evidence wherever and to whomever it leads. We still believe that no one is above the law-including those who are rich, famous and powerful," Steele said, as reported by WPVI in Philadelphia among other outlets. 

Federal Judge Kimba Wood on Friday ordered the release of former Adelphia Communications chairman John Rigas from federal prison, a move that would allow the 91-year-old former cable executive to die at his home.

Rigas and his son Timothy – Adelphia’s former chief financial officer – were tried and convicted on several charges of fraud and conspiracy in 2004. The two were accused of using the company as the Rigas family’s personal piggy bank. Another son, Michael Rigas, also was tried at that time but the jury could not reach a verdict; he later pleaded guilty to lesser charges and sentenced to two years' probation.

The Rigases were accused of using hundreds of millions of dollars of Adelphia funds for their own personal use and for taking out $2.3 billion in loans — for which the MSO was liable — to buy Adelphia stock.

The indictments and convictions rocked the cable industry, coming at a time of overall hysteria over so-called “off-balance sheet debt” a major factor in the fall of energy giant Enron. Throughout the trial the Rigases were shown to have used company funds for items as small as John Rigas’ subscription to the Columbia House record club, to larger expenditures for condos and to build a golf course in their headquarters town of Coudersport, Pa. One expenditure in particular made headlines – the $6,000 the company spent to fly two Christmas trees to Rigas’ daughter Ellen’s New York apartment.

Adelphia’s revelation on a 2002 earnings conference call that it had $2.3 billion in off-balance sheet debt touched off a firestorm that ultimately ended in the bankruptcy and sale of the company as well as the indictment of its executives. Adelphia was sold to Comcast and Time Warner Cable in 2006 for $17.6 billion.  

In all four Adelphia executives were indicted – John Rigas, Tim Rigas, Adelphia chief operating officer Michael Rigas and assistant treasurer Michael Mulcahey. Mulcahey was found not guilty  and Michael Rigas was sentenced to two years probation after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of signing false documents after his trial on securities and wire fraud ended in mistrial.

Rigas had been diagnosed with bladder cancer before he was sentenced in 2005 – it was one of the reasons he wanted to be sent to a federal facility in Minnesota, near the Mayo Clinic where he had received treatment in the past.  That request was denied and Rigas and his son were sent to a federal facility in North Carolina to serve out their terms.

Rigas’ condition has since been changed to terminal – reports say he has Stage IV bladder cancer that has metastasized to his lungs and that he has six month or less to live

RELATED:Fall of the House of Rigas: a Timeline.

Rigas had been serving a 12-year sentence (it was originally 15 years but was reduced after some federal charges were dropped) but Wood reduced it to time served. In a statement, John Rigas's attorney Lawrence McMichael confirmed reports he will be released.

"Last night a federal judge in NYC signed an order shortening John's sentence to time served," McMichael said in a statement. "His release has been ordered. I can't say exactly when he will go home but it should be in the next couple of days. Tim remains in custody. He is at the prison camp in Waymart, PA."