Cosby guilty of drugging and molesting woman

US comedian Bill Cosby has been convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

A jury outside Philadelphia convicted the Cosby Show star of three counts of aggravated indecent assault. The guilty verdict came less than a year after another jury was deadlocked on the charges.

Cosby, 80, pictured, was charged with assaulting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

His lawyer called Ms Constand a “con artist” who levelled false accusations against Cosby so she could sue him.

Cosby could get up to 10 years in prison on each of the counts.

The comedian stood up and reacted angrily after jurors left the courtroom. He used an expletive to refer to District Attorney Kevin Steele, who was arguing to revoke Cosby’s bail.

The judge ruled that Cosby will remain free pending sentencing.

Judge Steven O’Neill told the panel of seven men and five women that it was “an extraordinarily difficult case” and said the jurors “sacrificed in the service of justice”.

Dozens of women have come forward in recent years to say he drugged and assaulted them. Five of the other accusers testified against him at the retrial.

The panel of seven men and five women reached a verdict after deliberating for 14 hours over two days, vindicating prosecutors’ decision to retry the 80-year-old after his first trial ended with a hung jury less than a year ago.

Ms Constand, 45, told jurors Cosby knocked her out with three blue pills he called “your friends” before attacking her.

It was the only criminal case to arise from a barrage of allegations from more than 60 women who said the former TV star drugged and molested them.

“The time for the defendant to escape justice is over,” prosecutor Stewart Ryan said in his closing argument. “It’s finally time for the defendant to dine on the banquet of his own consequences.”

Another prosecutor, Kristen Feden, said Cosby was “nothing like the image that he played on TV”.

Cosby’s retrial took place against the backdrop of £MeToo, the movement against sexual misconduct that has taken down powerful men, among them Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Kevin Spacey and Senator Al Franken.