Actor/comedian Bill Cosby was sentenced this week to three to 10 years in a Pennsylvania prison for drugging and sexually molesting a woman, Andrea Constand, a former Temple University basketball player, at his home in 2004.
Judge Steven O’Neill ordered the 81-year-old entertainer to register as a sex offender for life.
“Mr. Cosby, this all circles back to you,” the judge said. “The day has come. The time has come.”
Cosby never took the witness stand during either of his two trials, only saying to his legal council that the 2004 incident—and up to 50 additional complaints against him—were consentual sexual encounters some of which dating back 40 years. In April, Cosby was convicted of three counts of aggregated indecent assault for drugging and molesting the 45-year-old Constand.
Prosecutors had called for Cosby to spend anywhere from five to 10 years behind bars in addition to paying a $25,000 fine. Cosby’s defense team said he should have been placed under house arrest because he is in failing health and is legally blind.
For the past five months, Cosby had been confined to his home outside Philadelphia and was fitted with a GPS monitor.
Cosby is the first major celebrity to go to trial in the #MeToo era. Over time, dozens of women have come forward to accuse Cosby of sexual misconduct. The accusations shocked not only his fans but the nation as a whole who came to know him as “America’s Dad” for his portrayal of the wise and kindly Dr. Healthcliff “Cliff” Huxtable on the wildly popular “The Cosby Show” in the 1980s.
Cosby’s defense team planned an immediate appeal of the sentence
