Bill Cosby has been sentenced to three to ten years in state prison on September 25 after being found guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand in 2004. More details here.
Bill Cosby, 81, is going to prison, and has been classified as a “sexually violent predator.” The legendary comedian was sentenced to three to ten years in state prison after his bid to have the judge in his case replaced or recused was rejected. “Equal justice under the law” means Cosby should not be sentenced differently based on “who he is or who he was,” Judge Steven O’Neill said in court. Cosby was convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault this spring against former Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004; she attested that the comedian, a Temple trustee, gave her bills and wine, and raped her while she drifted in and out of consciousness. The assault took place at Cosby’s Philadelphia home in January 2004. Until now, Cosby has been out of jail on a $1 million bail.
Prosecutors originally asked for a sentence of 30 years in prison, but the maximum was recently dropped to 10 years after combining all three convictions into one sentence. Earlier in the day, Judge O’Neill ruled that Cosby will be classified as a “sexually violent predator” or SVP. This status requires lifetime registration, lifetime mandatory sex offender counseling with a treatment provider, and notifying the community that a “sexually violent predator” lives in the area. SVP status did not affect the length of Cosby’s actual sentence.
Cosby’s victim, Constand, appeared in court earlier in the day, as well, to submit her victim impact statement to the court for Cosby’s sentencing. While the statement was not read aloud, Constand took the stand on Monday, September 24 and spoke briefly: “I have testified, I have given you my victim impact statement. You heard me, the jury heard me and Mr. Cosby heard me. All I’m asking for is justice as the court sees fit.”
She said she didn’t report the assault at the time because, “The shame was overwhelming. Self-doubt and confusion kept me from turning to my family or friends as I normally did. I felt completely alone, unable to trust anyone, including myself… When the sexual assault happened, I was a young woman brimming with confidence and looking forward to a future bright with possibilities. Now, almost 15 years later, I’m a middle-aged woman who’s been stuck in a holding pattern for most of her adult life, unable to heal fully or to move forward.”
“We may never know the full extent of his double life as a sexual predator but his decades-long reign of terror as a serial rapist is over,” Constand said, according to CNN.
Judge O’Neill wrote last week in response to Cosby’s last desperate bid to get the rape case thrown out of court: “And now this 19th day of September, 2018, upon consideration of the Defendant’s Motion for Disclosure, Recusal and For Reconsideration of Recusal, and supporting Memorandum of Law, filed September 11, 2018, and the Commonwealth’s Response thereto, filed September 13, 2018, it is hereby ORDERED and DECREED that the Motion is DENIED in its entirety.” (read it here).
This story is still developing. HollywoodLife will keep you updated as more details about Cosby’s sentencing become available.
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