UPDATE:
Bill Cosby was designated a “sexually violent predator” during his sentencing hearing by a judge on Tuesday. The comedian will learn his punishment this afternoon for sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2005. A jury convicted Cosby on three counts of aggravated indecent sexual assault in April.
- Judge declared Bill Cosby a ‘sexual violent predator’ and ordered to register with local police.
- Bill Cosby, 81, is sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison for 2004 sexual assault.
- Bill Cosby first ‘convicted’ man in the #MeToo era.
Despite heartfelt pleas in victims impact statements and sharp words from lawyers on both sides, Bill Cosby will see the inside of a prison cell for the 2004 rape of Andrea Constand for likely less than three years, the judge in the Cosby criminal case told a Pennsylvania courtroom Monday.
What We Know:
- In April, Cosby was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault. With each count carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years, the 81-year-old actor could have been hit with a three-decade sentence behind bars. He is currently under house arrest and out on $1 million bail.
- On Day 1 of the sentencing hearing for Cosby with a vital defense witness still to come tomorrow, O’Neill revealed that the often-clashing Montgomery County District Attorney’s office and the defendant’s lawyer had agreed to a deal of sorts.
- In the past few years, more than 60 women have come forward to claim Cosby drugged and/or assaulted them over the past five decades in similar circumstances to what Constand described in her case. There are several civil cases ongoing against Cosby, but because Pennsylvania has a much longer statute of limitations on sex crimes than most states, he pulled into court on criminal charges in late 2015 just before time ran out on the Constand case.
- Despite admitting in depositions more than a decade ago to giving Benadryl pills to Constand on the night of the apparent assault in his Philadelphia-area mansion more than a decade ago, Cosby has unsuccessfully insisted through various investigations and two trials that the encounter with the ex-Temple basketball team employee was consensual.
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Cosby, Constand, the lawyers and O’Neill are expected back in court at 9 AM ET Tuesday for a the sexually violent predator ruling and eventually final sentencing.
This is a breaking and developing news story. This story will be updated.
