Source: KENA BETANCUR / Getty
In the retrial of Bill Cosby, the jury found the icon guilty of all three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in a Philadelphia suburb in 2004.
Cosby faces 10 years in prison on each count, which include penetration with lack of consent, penetration while unconscious and penetration after administrating an intoxicant, which are all felonies. The sentences will probably be served concurrently.
According to The New York Times, Judge Steven T. O’Neill praised the jurors, calling it “an extraordinarily difficult case” and adding, “You have sacrificed much, but you have sacrificed in the service of justice.”
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele asked that Cosby’s $1 million bail be revoked, as he has a plane and could flee. This prompted Cosby to shout at the prosecutor in court.
“He doesn’t have a plane, you asshole,” he shouted.
This verdict comes a year after Cosby’s previous trial ended in a mistrial, as the old panel of jurors were deadlocked and couldn’t agree on a verdict. At the retrial, five other Cosby accusers testified as “prior bad acts” witnesses and said Cosby had drugged and assaulted them years ago. Prosecutors said that these women’s stories showed that Cosby had a pattern in his actions.
Cosby’s new defense team attempted to claim that Constand’s lawsuit came from her being a desperate “con artist” with financial problems. However in the closing arguments, a special prosecutor, Kristen Gibbons Feden, told the jury that Constand was not the con, Cosby is.
This is the first high-profile trial during the #MeToo era. Cosby’s lawyers referred to the movement as a bias to the case, claiming it denied Cosby a fair trial and was a distraction to the juror’s attention. But what Cosby’s lawyers failed to realize is that the movement isn’t a distraction — it was the motivation for a much-needed awakening.
