Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Comedian, 81, to be sentenced for rape

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Cosby on Tuesday. The TV star once known as America’s Dad for his starring role in “The Cosby Show” could become the first celebrity of the #MeToo era to be sent to prison.

Mr. Cosby was convicted in April of violating former Temple University women’s basketball administra­tor Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelph­ia mansion in 2004.

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

“The jury heard me. Mr. Cosby heard me. Now all I am asking for is justice as the court sees fit,” said Ms. Constand, who submitted a much longer victim-impact statement that wasn’t read in court.

Mr. Steele quoted Ms. Constand in her statement as saying that Mr. Cosby took “my beautiful, healthy, young spirit and crushed it.”

The three charges on which Mr. Cosby was convicted carry up to 10 years in prison each, but both sides agreed to merge them together for sentencing because they stemmed from the same encounter. State sentencing guidelines call for about one to four years behind bars on the combined charge.

The judge is also expected to decide whether to declare Mr. Cosby a “sexually violent predator” — a scarlet letter that would make him subject to mandatory lifetime counseling and community notificati­on of his whereabout­s.

On Monday, Kristen Dudley, a psychologi­st for the state of Pennsylvan­ia, testified that Mr. Cosby fits the criteria for a sexually violent predator, showing signs of a mental disorder that involves an uncontroll­able urge to violate helpless women. A psychologi­st for Mr. Cosby’s side is set to testify Tuesday.

Mr. Cosby’s lawyers argued that the state law on classifyin­g sexual predators is unconstitu­tional. They contended also that Mr. Cosby is unlikely to commit another crime because of his age and health and because there have been no complaints that he molested anyone in the 14 years since his encounter with Ms. Constand.

“The suggestion that Mr. Cosby is dangerous is not supported by anything other than the frenzy,” Mr. Green said, alluding to protesters outside the courthouse and public debate about the case.

Ms. Constand’s mother, Gianna, also took the stand Monday and attributed her health problems to Cosby-related stress. She accused Mr. Cosby of “ruining many lives.”

“I can only hope and pray that some sense of peace and faith can be restored back on our family,” she said. “The victims cannot be un-raped. Unfortunat­ely, all we can do is hold the perpetrato­r accountabl­e.”

Mr. Cosby’s side didn’t call any character witnesses and touched only on his life and fame, noting how he had been poor, dropped out of high school and served in the Navy before soaring to stardom.

He will be given the opportunit­y to speak in court before he is sentenced.

Mr. Cosby, looking grim, walked into the courthouse Monday morning on the arm of his longtime spokesman as protesters shouted at

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