COSBY GUILTY
AMERICA’S TV DAD LOSES SEX ASSAULT CASES
After decades of whispers, lawsuits, investigations and close calls, Bill Cosby could be headed to prison at age 80 for sexual assault for the rest of his life, vindicating a multitude of women who doubted anyone would ever believe their word against that of America’s Dad.
The comedian was convicted Thursday of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in January 2004. Women’s advocates called the verdict a turning point in the #MeToo movement that proved what Cosby’s accusers had been saying all along: his nice-guy image was a sham.
Lili Bernard, who said Cosby sexually assaulted her before giving her a one-time role on “The Cosby Show” in 1992, became so emotional in the courtroom gallery that she accidentally banged her forehead on the bench in front of her.
“I’m overcome with gratitude,” Bernard, sobbing, said outside the courthouse. “I feel like I have to pinch myself. Am I awake? It’s a miracle.”
The verdict, in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era, sealed the spectacular late-in-life downfall of an entertainer who broke racial barriers in Hollywood on his way to TV superstardom as sweater-wearing, wisdom-dispensing Dr. Cliff Huxtable.
It was the only criminal case to arise from a barrage of allegations from more than 60 women who said Cosby drugged and molested them over five decades but whose stories were often disbelieved or ignored years before #MeToo put a spotlight on sexual misconduct by powerful men.
Cosby stared straight ahead as the verdict was read but moments later lashed out loudly at District Attorney Kevin Steele after the prosecutor demanded Cosby be sent immediately to jail. Steele told the judge they’d learned through the trial that Cosby has an airplane, and feared he could flee.
Cosby angrily denied he has a plane and called Steele an “a-hole,” shouting, “I’m sick of him!”
Judge Steven O’Neill decided Cosby can remain free on $1 million bail while he awaits sentencing but restricted him to Montgomery County and the mansion where the encounter with Constand occurred.
Cosby was convicted of three counts of aggravated indecent assault, each carrying a standard sentence of five to 10 years in prison. The counts are likely to be merged for sentencing purposes, but given Cosby’s age even a modest term could mean he will die behind bars.
Constand, a 45-year-old women’s basketball administrator, said Cosby knocked her out with three blue pills he called “your friends” and then penetrated her with his fingers as she lay immobilized, unable to resist or say no.