UPDATED: 2:23 p.m. EDT, Sept. 25 — Bill Cosby was sentenced on Tuesday to three to 10 years in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004.
UPDATED: 1:08 p.m. EDT, Sept. 25 — Judge Steven T. O’Neill has reportedly decided that Bill Cosby must be labeled a sexually violent predator regardless of the sentencing, which was expected to be announced at bout 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
UPDATED: 10:54 a.m. EDT, Sept. 25 — The woman at the center of Bill Cosby‘s conviction for sexual assault addressed the court Tuesday morning to deliver her victim impact statement, according to Washington Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia.
“Bill Cosby took my beautiful, healthy, young spirit & crushed it,” Andrea Constand reportedly said. “He robbed me of my health & vitality, my open nature, and my trust in myself & others.”
Meanwhile, Cosby’s lawyers were reportedly hoping that the disgraced comedian’s blindness and other health concerns would factor into a lenient prison sentence. Cosby was facing as many as 10 years in prison.
There was also the concern over how Cosby would be classified following his conviction.
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UPDATED: 8:36 a.m. EDT, Sept. 25 — Bill Cosby has arrived at the suburban Philadelphia courthouse Tuesday, when he was expected to be sentenced to prison for his sexual assault conviction months earlier. The disgraced comedian who was found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004 emerged from his luxury SUV smiling and pointed to onlookers at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania.
The prosecutor in the case has pushed for Cosby to serve 10 years in prison, but the judge has hinted that the sentence may be closer to three years.
Accusers had an opportunity to speak directly to Cosby and the court during the first installment of the two-day sentencing hearing. Speakers included Andrea Constand, the woman whose claims of sexual assault prompted the trial, and former supermodel Janice Dickinson.
Read on to see pictures and videos from Day 1 of Cosby’s sentencing hearing.
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UPDATED: 4:35 p.m. EDT — Bill Cosby was reportedly expected to be sentenced to no more than three years, the judge presiding over his sexual assault trial and sentencing hearing said Monday. That stood in contrast to the prosecutor reportedly seeking as much as a decade behind bars.
However, it was unclear when Cosby would be sentenced because of a reported request submitted by the defense at the start of the two-day sentencing hearing on Monday.
Cosby was being sentenced about five months after being found guilty of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004.
The hearing was expected to last two days to afford Constand and Cosby’s alleged victims an opportunity to offer their “victim impact statements” to the disgraced comedian.
According to Deadline, Cosby’s “lawyers today made a last-ditch sleight-of-hand that could knock the two-day sentencing hearing off the rails right after it started and keep him from potentially going behind bars this week.”
Original story:
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Bill Cosby was scheduled on Monday to be sentenced for his sexual assault conviction, but not before his confirmed and alleged victims literally have their say. The woman who a jury found was drugged and groped by the disgraced comedian was expected to lead a group of women making their “victim impact statements” to Cosby ahead of his sentencing, which was set to last two days.
Cosby arrived at the courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, with his legal team in tow. His main accuser, Andrea Constand, had already arrived, as well as other accusers, including former supermodel Janice Dickinson.
A small group of protesters had assembled outside the courthouse in a scene that was similar to the retrial, which ended in April and followed the original trial that ended in a mistrial last year.
Regardless of the sentencing – Cosby could either be sentenced to a maximum 30 years and be led out of the courtroom in handcuffs or he could be sentenced to probation – the case is likely bound to continue as defense attorneys were expected to announce an immediate appeal.
Cosby’s fall from grace has been especially notable because he built his career on a clean, family-friendly image that was shredded when he was indicted and arrested on Constand’s accusation that had gone all but ignored until Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele won his election and vowed to finish the job his predecessor never started.
The comedian’s wife filed an ethics complaint with the state judicial board last week claiming Judge Steven O’Neill was biased, but the accusation wasn’t expected to affect the sentencing.
Below are some of the scenes from Cosby’s sentencing hearing. The photos and videos will be updated as they become available.
Bill Cosby Gets Sentenced For His Sexual Assault Conviction was originally published on newsone.com
1. Cosby arrives for Day 2
Bill Cosby arrives at the Montgomery County Courthouse on the second day of sentencing in his sexual assault trial on September 25, 2018, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
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3. Cosby in court for Day 2 of sentencing hearing
Bill Cosby walks through the Montgomery County Courthouse on the second day of sentencing in his sexual assault trial on September 25, 2018, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
4. Cosby in court for Day 2 of sentencing hearing
Bill Cosby walks through the Montgomery County Courthouse on the second day of sentencing in his sexual assault trial on September 25, 2018, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
5. Cosby arrives for Day 2
Bill Cosby arrives at the Montgomery County Courthouse on the second day of sentencing in his sexual assault trial on September 25, 2018, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
6. Cosby arrives for Day 2
Bill Cosby arrives at the Montgomery County Courthouse on the second day of sentencing in his sexual assault trial on September 25, 2018, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
7. Cosby arrives for Day 2
Bill Cosby arrives for a second day of a sentencing hearing at the Montgomery County Courthouse September 25, 2018, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
8. Activists at the courthouse
Activist Brid Milliken outside Montgomery County Courthouse, in Norristown, PA, on September 24, 2018. (Photo by Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
9. Sentencing Begins In Bill Cosby Trial
Bill Cosby returns to the courtroom after a break with his spokesman Andrew Wyatt and Ebonee Benson at the Montgomery County Courthouse, during his sexual assault trial sentencing September 24, 2018 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by David Maialetti-Pool/Getty Images)
10. Andrea Constand
Andrea Constand returns to the courtroom during a lunch break at the sentencing hearing for the sexual assault trial of entertainer Bill Cosby at the Montgomery County Courthouse September 24, 2018, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by David Maialetti-Pool/Getty Images)
11. Former model Janice Dickinson
Former model Janice Dickinson returns to the courtroom during the lunch break in the sexual assault trial sentencing hearing for entertainer Bill Cosby at the Montgomery County Courthouse September 24, 2018, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by David Maialetti-Pool/Getty Images)
12. Judge Steven T. O’Neill
Judge Steven T. O’Neill returns to the courtroom during a lunch break for the sexual assault trial sentencing hearing of actor and comedian Bill Cosby at the Montgomery County Courthouse September 24, 2018, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by David Maialetti-Pool/Getty Images)
13. Bill Cosby’s publicist Andrew Wyatt
Bill Cosby’s publicist Andrew Wyatt walks back from a lunch break in his client’s sentencing hearing at the Montgomery County Courthouse September 24, 2018, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
14. Chelan Lasha arrives
Chelan Lasha arrives at the sentencing hearing for the sexual assault trial of entertainer Bill Cosby at the Montgomery County Courthouse September 24, 2018 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by David Maialetti-Pool/Getty Images)
15. Andrea Constand arrives
Andrea Constand arrives at the sentencing hearing for the sexual assault trial of entertainer Bill Cosby at the Montgomery County Courthouse September 24, 2018, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by David Maialetti-Pool/Getty Images)
16. Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele returns to the courtroom after a break in the sexual assault trial sentencing of Bill Cosby at the Montgomery County Courthouse September 24, 2018 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Photo by David Maialetti-Pool/Getty Images)
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18. Activists demonstrate
Activist Bird Milliken demonstrates outside the Montgomery County Courthouse with an effigy of Bill Cosby in a shopping cart outside the Montgomery County Courthouse on the first day of sentencing in Cosby’s sexual assault trial on September 24, 2018 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. In April, Cosby was found guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. 60 women have accused the 80 year old entertainer of sexual assault. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
19. Police presence
A police officer readies his dog before Bill Cosby arrives outside the Montgomery County Courthouse on the first day of sentencing in his sexual assault trial on September 24, 2018, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. In April, Cosby was found guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. 60 women have accused the 80 year old entertainer of sexual assault. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
