FALLEN STAR Bill Cosby is sentenced

There is justice – finally – for Bill Cosby’s victims as the once-revered comedian is sentenced to three to 10 years in prison

The moment had come. Bill Cosby took off his jacket, tie and watch before being handcuffed and led out of the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

The disgraced comedian – a man once referred to as “America’s dad” – will now spend the next three to 10 years locked away after he was sentenced on Sept. 25, more than 14 years after he drugged and sexually assaulted Andrea Constand. Cosby is the first celebrity of the #Metoo era to be convicted.

At 81, Cosby, who was convicted in April this year, could well spend the rest of his life in prison. In sentencing Cosby, judge Steven O’neill described Cosby as a “sexually violent predator”. “It is time for justice,” O’neill said. “Mr Cosby, this has all circled back to you.”

Despite the weight of evidence against him, Cosby had maintained his innocence and he will likely appeal his sentence. He seemed “reserved and unemotional” for much of his trial, according to Associated Press journalist Michael R. Sisak. As his sentence was read out, Cosby was “calm, reserved and perhaps resigned to his fate,” Sisak says. At times throughout his trial, Cosby was seen laughing. “Why? It’s unclear. He’s made a career of seeing humour in life’s intricacies,” Sisak tells WHO.

Outside court, Cosby’s spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, accused the judicial system of racism, telling reporters, “They persecuted Jesus and look what happened. Not saying Mr Cosby is Jesus, but we know what this country has done to black men for centuries.”

In his mugshot, Cosby looked downcast; his white shirt and pinstripe suit pants and braces would soon be replaced with a blue denim-collared shirt. On Sept. 26, Cosby spent his first full day behind bars at SCI Phoenix, a maximum-security prison in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia.

Cosby – now known as inmate NN7687 – has his own cell in the 3830-bed relatively new prison. That’s for his own safety. “We are taking all the necessary precautions to ensure Mr Cosby’s safety and general welfare in our institution,” Pennsylvania Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel said in a statement. His first meal was baked meatballs and rice, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, CNN reported.

Cosby’s conviction was welcomed by Constand, who was hugged by others when the sentence was announced. (The criminal case originally ended in a mistrial on June 17, 2017 — after six days, the sevenman, five-woman jury was unable come to a unanimous verdict — resulting in a retrial.)

Constand was a former Temple University employee when Cosby assaulted her in his home in 2004. Cosby was her mentor. She first reported her assault to police in 2005, but the district attorney at the time did not press charges. The former basketball administrator then brought a civil case against Cosby in 2005.

It was revealed in court in this year’s retrial that in the civil case Constand received a settlement of $US3.4 million ($4.7 million) in 2006.

While murmurings about Cosby’s behaviour continued, things really kicked up a gear in 2014. On Oct. 16, comedian Hannibal Buress was performing in Cosby’s home town of Philadelphia when he mocked Cosby’s public persona as “America’s dad”: “Pull your pants up, black people – I was on TV in the ’80s,” Buress told the audience. “Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches.”

By November, a video of Buress’ performance had gone viral and there were fresh accusations of rape against Cosby. On Nov. 13, Barbara Bowman wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post titled “Bill Cosby raped me. Why did it take 30 years for people to believe my story?”

In this year’s trial, Constand testified that Cosby gave her pills before assaulting her as she lay unable to move on a couch. For his part, the comedian claimed the encounter was consensual and that he was being framed. On the first day of the sentencing hearing, Constand submitted a detailed statement in court about the attack and its devastating impact on her life.

“When the sexual assault happened, I was a young woman brimming with confidence and looking forward to a future bright with possibilities,” the statement read. “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. Bill Cosby took my beautiful, healthy young spirit and crushed it.”

And she wasn’t the only one. More than 60 women came forward to accuse Cosby of rape and sexual assault, but many of the cases were too old to prosecute. Constand’s was the only criminal case against Cosby. Model Janice Dickinson testified in the trial that she was drugged and violated by Cosby inside her Lake Tahoe hotel room in 1982. When the verdict was announced she reportedly looked at Cosby and said, “Here’s the last laugh, pal.”

Another Cosby accuser, actress Lili Bernard, praised Constand, calling her the “Joan of Arc in the war on rape”, while lawyer Gloria Allred, who represented many of the accusers, told reporters, “This has been a long journey to justice for all of the accusers. We’re glad the judgment day has finally come for Mr Cosby.”

For Cosby, it was a spectacular fall from grace. He started out as a stand-up comedian in San Francisco in the 1960s. In 1972, he hosted an animated comedy series called Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. The show ran until 1985. But the show for which many Australians know him is The Cosby Show. The sitcom, which Cosby produced and starred in, ran from 1984 until 1992. He played a wealthy doctor named Cliff Huxtable, raising five children with his wife Clair (Phylicia Rashad). Interestingly, the response from his Cosby Show co-stars has been mixed. In January 2015, Rashad told Showbiz 411 there was an “orchestrated” campaign against Cosby. She called the pursuit of Cosby the “destruction of a legacy.”

Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played Cosby’s daughter Rudy, arrived with Cosby at his trial in 2017. But Lisa Bonet, who played the Cosbys’ daughter Denise, said there was an “energy” around him. “And that type of sinister, shadow energy cannot be concealed,” Bonet told Porter magazine earlier this year.

The former star – now convicted sex

“Bill Cosby took my spirit and crushed it” —Constand

offender – has plenty of time to dwell on his actions as he sits alone in his cell. And he may not find many friends in prison. O.J. Simpson – himself a convicted criminal – told The Daily Mail that “rapists are frowned upon”.

In sentencing, Judge O’neill said there was no special treatment for Cosby despite his fame, and fined him $US25,000 ($34,000) and ordered him to pay the prosecution’s costs.

For Cosby’s accusers, there was justice — finally. “They wondered if he’d ever be convicted and punished. Finally, they had their answer,” Sisak says. “Many of these women were there, in person, in court, watching as Cosby was marched past them and the dozens of reporters ringing the courthouse mezzanine. It was a modern twist on something out of ancient Rome.”

Bernard said there was finally “solace” in Cosby’s conviction. “It is his fame and his fortune and his phony philanthropy that has allowed him to get away with impunity,” she said. “Maybe this will send a message to other powerful perpetrators that they will be caught and punished.”