Norristown - Bill Cosby was marched
out of court in shackles on Tuesday after a judge branded him a
"predator" and sentenced him to between three and 10 years in
prison for sexual assault, capping the downfall of the
once-beloved comedian known as "America's Dad".
Cosby, 81, was found guilty in April of three counts of
aggravated indecent assault for the drugging and sexual assault
of his one-time friend Andrea Constand, a former Temple
University administrator, at his Philadelphia home in 2004.
He is the first celebrity to be convicted of sexual abuse
since the start of the #MeToo movement, the national reckoning
with misconduct that has brought down dozens of powerful men in
entertainment, politics and other fields.
Cosby must spend at least three years in a Pennsylvania
prison before he becomes eligible for supervised release, though
he could end up behind bars for up to a decade.
Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Steven O'Neill
ordered Cosby to be jailed immediately, denying Cosby's request
for bail while lawyers appeal the conviction.
He was escorted out a back door of the courthouse with his
hands and feet shackled and driven away in a black sport utility
vehicle.
Minutes earlier, Constand left court with her arms folded, a
smile spreading across her face as other women who have accused
Cosby came to hug her. Several of those women spoke to reporters
in the rain outside the courtroom.
"I wanted 30 years, but I'm very happy to know Mr Cosby
will do time in prison," said Chelan Lasha, who gave tearful
testimony in court about the time she says Cosby drugged and
groped her in the 1980s.
O'Neill also fined Cosby $25,000 and ordered him to pay the
costs of the prosecution. There was no visible reaction from the
disgraced entertainer as he learned his fate.
"Equal justice under the law does not allow different
treatment because of who he is or who he was," O'Neill said.
Cosby cemented his family-friendly reputation playing the
affable Dr Cliff Huxtable in the 1980s television comedy "The
Cosby Show."
"He hid behind Dr. Cliff Huxtable," Kevin Steele, the county
district attorney who led the prosecution, told reporters
afterwards. "Before he was taken away in handcuffs, a lot of
people believed this was who he was. We know otherwise."
After the sentencing, Andrew Wyatt, Cosby's spokesman, read
a lengthy statement in which he decried what he called "the most
racist and sexist trial in the history of the United States."
O'Neill also decided to designate Cosby a "sexually violent
predator" under Pennsylvania law.
Under that designation, Cosby will have to undergo monthly
counseling and register as a sex offender with police for the
rest of his life. Neighbours and schools will be notified of his
address, certain movements and crimes, as will Constand.
When prosecutors told Cosby in court he would not have to
inform Constand of his movements himself but that a proxy would
do so, he replied: "Good!"
Cosby has denied any wrongdoing. Asked if he wanted to
address the court with a statement before sentencing, Cosby
declined through his lawyers. His lawyers had asked that Cosby
be placed under house arrest, citing his age and frailty.
More than 50 women have accused Cosby of sexual abuse going
back decades, with most complaints too old to prosecute. The
Constand case was the only allegation that led to criminal
charges.
Constand said in a written statement submitted to the court
on Monday that the attack had turned her into a woman who was
"stuck in a holding pattern for most of her adult life, unable
to heal fully or to move forward."
"Bill Cosby took my beautiful, healthy young spirit and
crushed it," she wrote.
Cosby's first trial in 2017 ended in a mistrial when jurors
could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Prison officials will process Cosby at the nearby state
prison in Schwenksville before determining in which of
Pennsylvania's 22 male prisons he will serve his sentence,
prison spokeswoman Amy Worden wrote in an email.
He will be one of 86 inmates over age 80 held by
Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections, where the two oldest
inmates are both 91, Worden said.