Bill Cosby was sentenced Tuesday to three to 10 years behind bars for drugging and molesting a much younger woman in 2004 — the culmination of a stunning saga of sexual assault allegations that sent the comedian’s fun-loving-family-man legacy up in flames.
Cosby bit his finger and looked up at the ceiling as Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill meted out his punishment — and slammed the shamed actor — for giving three blue pills to Andrea Constand at his home in suburban Philadelphia, then waiting until she slipped into a drugged stupor to penetrate her with his fingers.
“It was planned predation — the pills, the planning, the penetration without her consent, your own words in your deposition,” O’Neill said. “You claimed her silence was her consent, that is not the law. Your version of consent was rejected by the jury. That underscores how serious this crime is.”
“No one is above the law, and no one should be treated differently, or disproportionately, in terms of where they live, who they are, or in terms of wealth or philanthropy.”
Sitting with her family in the front row of the courtroom, Constand stared straight ahead.
The 81-year-old, who says he’s legally blind and uses a cane to walk, faced anywhere from zero to 10 years. He was convicted at his retrial in April after jurors in his first trial deadlocked, causing a mistrial.
He did not address the court ahead of his sentencing.
Prosecutors asked for five to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine, while his team of lawyers begged for house arrest or probation, citing his age and health.
Earlier in the day, O’Neill sided with the state in determining that Cosby was a sexually violent predator — a serious designation that landed him monthly counseling and registration with police and as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Noticeably absent from the packed courtroom in Norristown was Camille Cosby, the disgraced funnyman’s wife of 54 years and mother to his five children. She only appeared twice during her embattled husband’s two criminal trials, during closing arguments — despite unequivocally standing by him.
She called Cosby a victim of “lynch mobs” and castigated his conviction as an “unthinking, unquestioning, unconstitutional frenzy propagated by the media.”
