Cosby will be sentenced in September
NORRISTOWN » Entertainer Bill Cosby will learn his fate from a judge at a September sentencing hearing on charges he drugged and sexually assaulted a woman at his Cheltenham mansion in 2004.
Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neill on Tuesday issued an order setting aside two days, Sept. 24 and 25, for what is expected to be the most-watched sentencing hearing ever in a county courtroom. The sentencing hearing is expected to attract worldwide media attention.
Cosby, who turns 81 in July, faces a possible maximum sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison
on the three counts of aggravated indecent assault of which he was convicted by a jury in April. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence.
A jury of seven men and five women deliberated about 14 hours over two days before convicting Cosby on April 26 of the three felony charges in connection with sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former Temple University athletic department employee, after plying her with “three blue pills,” at his Cheltenham mansion in January 2004.
O’Neill has allowed Cosby to remain free on bail, 10 percent of $1 million, to await sentencing. The judge said the entertainer must wear an electronic monitoring device while he remains free. Cosby cannot leave the state without approval of the judge.
It was the second trial for Cosby. Cosby’s first trial in June 2017 ended in a mistrial when a jury selected from Allegheny County couldn’t reach a verdict.
During the 14-day retrial last month, the latest jury, comprised of Montgomery County residents, found that Cosby sexually assaulted Constand while she was unconscious and without her consent.
Lead defense lawyer Thomas Mesereau Jr. previously said that Cosby will appeal the conviction.
During the retrial, District Attorney Kevin R. Steele was permitted to call five additional women, who accused Cosby of sexual misconduct between the years 1982 and 1996, to testify, including model Janice Dickinson, who testified Cosby raped her during a 1982 meeting in his hotel room in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. During Cosby’s first trial last June, O’Neill permitted only one other accuser to testify.
During the retrial, Steele and co-prosecutors Kristen Feden and M. Stewart Ryan described Cosby as a trusted mentor who betrayed the friendship he had with Constand and said the criminal case was “about trust… about betrayal.” Prosecutors alleged Cosby plied Constand with “three blue pills” and proceeded to sexually assault her while she visited his home to discuss her career.
Prosecutors argued Constand did not have the ability to consent to sexual contact.
Constand, 45, of Ontario, Canada, testifying 7 ½ hours over two days, said after taking the blue pills she began slurring her words and was unable to fight off Cosby’s sexual advances. The former director of women’s basketball operations at Temple University claimed Cosby guided her to a couch, where she passed out.
Constand testified she was “jolted” awake to find Cosby touching her breasts, digitally penetrating her and forcing her to touch his penis, all without her consent.