Bill Cosby sentenced to prison for sexual assault

Cosby has been denied bail, and taken into custody. Cosby didn’t testify at either of his two trials.

Cosby was found guilty in April of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former women’s basketball coach at Temple University in Philadelphia.

However, the prison has the state’s most restricted telephone policy and according to The Inquirer, inmates said it had “limited access to water”. After being sentenced to 3-10 years in prison for sexual, he tripped on the stairs while handcuffed as he was taken away by guards.

Bill Cosby was sentenced Tuesday to at least three years in prison, a decision that was welcomed by numerous women who have publicly accused him of sexual assault.

Time’s Up, the organization founded by prominent Hollywood women in the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault allegations, today heralded the most significant conviction of the #MeToo era.

“We prosecute where the evidence takes us and that was done in this (Cosby) case”.

Prosecutor Kristen Feden said Constand told her she was happy with the sentence. O’Neill chose to merge the sentences because they stemmed from the same event, which meant the maximum was 10 years in prison, according to the Times and prior coverage by the Legal Intelligencer.

The judge is expected to sentence Cosby later Tuesday. His lawyers asked for house arrest.

Unlike Kavanaugh, Cosby is now classified as a violent sexual predator following this week’s sentencing and more than 60 women accusing him of sexual misconduct.

Judge O’Neill also chose to designate Cosby a “sexually violent predator” under Pennsylvania law.

“If that’s what they’ve got, it’s beyond a Hail Mary”, Steele said.

These women thought they were going to get career advice, thought they were being groomed for a TV show or a movie or some other project, thought they were being welcomed by a mentor, a friend, a beloved icon and family man.

The state also said: “Moreover, the defendant has never accepted responsibility for his crime, nor has he shown any remorse”.

“Eighty-one-year-old blind men who are not self-sufficient are not a danger, unless perhaps to themselves”, he said. And no one should be treated disproportionately because of who they are, where they live, or even their wealth, celebrity or philanthropy. – Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele.

Prosecutors were seeking a sentence of five to 10 years in prison.

After testifying for several hours at two trials, the first of which ended in a hung jury, Constand spoke in court Monday for just two minutes.

Constand smiled broadly upon hearing the punishment and was hugged by others in the courtroom. “I heard those words”. I loved an early sitcom of his, “The Bill Cosby Show” (1969-1971), a dryly amusing, smart show in which he played the physical education teacher Chet Kincaid.

Cosby, who rose to fame as a stand-up comedian and then one-half of the I Spy team, had always been known to the public as one of the good guys of the showbiz world.

Sonia Ossorio, president of the National Organization for Women of NY, praised Constand and each of the more than 60 women who have come forward to tell their stories about Cosby.

He declined to testify in court or produce any witnesses to emphasize past years of philanthropic work as mitigating circumstances in his favor.

In Ms Constand’s impact statement, provided to reporters by the prosecution team on Tuesday, she said: “To truly understand the impact that the sexual assault has had on my life, you have to understand the person that I was before it happened”.

The sitcom was a fabulous success, turning Cosby into a major figure of USA pop culture in the second half of the 20th century.