Yesterday afternoon, Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to ten years in state prison. The sentencing was for the three convictions of aggravated indecent assault on Andrea Constand in 2004. This was Cosby’s first-ever criminal trial, because by the time most women came forward to tell their stories, the statute of limitations had already expired. The victims who did come forward within the statute of limitations were often ignored or disbelieved, or they had to resort to civil litigation to get anything on the record. The point is that… it’s never too late to tell your story. It’s never too late to stand up to the man who hurt you. And you never know, people might surprise you.
Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison by a Pennsylvania judge on Tuesday, five months after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a former Temple University employee in his mansion in 2004. The Montgomery County District Attorney confirmed the prison term on Twitter. The sentence includes a $25,000 fine and requires Cosby to pay for the cost of his prosecution.
According to the terms of the sentence, Cosby will serve a minimum of three years in prison and then become eligible for supervised release, although nothing promises his release at that time, reports Philadelphia public radio station WHYY. The judge denied Cosby’s bail request, so he will be incarcerated immediately.
I was hoping for longer than three years, honestly. I was hoping for a minimum of five years. But as I said yesterday, I find that I’m pleasantly surprised by all of this – that a prosecutor took a chance on Constand’s case, that the case was prosecuted vigorously, that a jury of men and women found Cosby guilty, and that Cosby was actually sentenced to jail time. Here’s his booking photo:
Bill Cosby's booking photo has been released https://t.co/eDcyFRe18y pic.twitter.com/Wfdpw1rlsJ
— Variety (@Variety) September 25, 2018
And here’s the only part of this which will make you laugh – the unhinged statement from Cosby’s publicist Andrew Wyatt, wherein he compared Cosby to… Brett Kavanaugh AND Jesus. OMFG.
Bill Cosby's publicist, Andrew Wyatt, claims both Cosby and Brett Kavanaugh are victims of "a sex war" that is "going on in Washington today." pic.twitter.com/jRHOjzUZD7
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 25, 2018
Wyatt said, in part: “What is going on in Washington today with Judge Kavanaugh is part of that sex war that Judge O’Neill is a part of… They persecuted Jesus and look what happened. Not saying Mr. Cosby is Jesus, but we know what this country has done to black men for centuries.” That’s a three-fer, with Cosby, Kavanaugh AND Jesus all being mentioned in the same breath. My goodness. And I do agree with Wyatt, Cosby and Kavanaugh are the same in that they’re both misogynists and predators who treat women as subhuman objects. But Jesus would like to be excluded from this narrative.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Avalon Red.
That statement by his lawyer…I have no words honestly. He sounded batshit insane. Bill Cosby is not Jesus, he’s not Brett kavanaugh…he’s a serial rapist who’s finally getting a bit of punishment after years of abuse. He admitted drugging women to have sex with them for God sake!!
“They persecuted Jesus and look what happened”? What does that even mean?! That was the craziest word salad I’ve ever heard.
Does he think we should check ol’ Bill for stigmata?
Camille…put money on my commissary
So he can buy all the jello cups he wants.
J-A-I-L-O!
Camille was surprisingly MIA during the sentencing. I guess she had enough of his ass while he was cooped up in the mansion on house arrest.
I’ve read so many people saying that his sentence is a life sentence b/c there is a chance he may die inside due to his age and health. I disagree. He’s 81 years old and he spent those first complete 80 years of his life doing whatever the heck he wanted, including drugging/raping/sexual assaulting countless women while destroying their lives in the process. A couple of years at the end of his life doesn’t count as much of a punishment, IMO.
Agreed. He lived a full, rich life for eighty years. About time he gets locked up. No sympathy for him, it’s not like he’s ever had any for the man women he raped, anybody that feels bad for him can go to hell
yeah I have no sympathy for him just as he had no sympathy for the dozens of women he drugged and raped. I hope he rots in prison.
It’s like when they finally find and prosecute war criminals and then because they are old they are given no (or a very lenient) sentence – I hate that. In their younger years they killed and assaulted with impunity, why should they receive sympathy when they offered none to their victims?
Agreed. Even if it is a life sentence, I’m not sure why I’m supposed to find that sympathetic. I mean, this might sound like a crazy idea, but I’m just going to throw this out there: if you don’t want to die in prison, a good way to avoid that is to refrain from assaulting dozens of people over a period of decades.
Andrew Wyatt really made me SMH while he gave his statement yesterday. He must be paid a fortune to say those ridiculous things to defend Cosby
Of course, he can’t take a normal booking photo.
Shuddering at that statement.
When you wake up every day for the last 50 years, and drugging and raping women was on your to do list, jail is where you belong. He did this to himself-he’s simply reaping what he sowed. Sympathy should be for the victims-period. When this guy is in jail, he’ll be with predators bigger and badder than him and then he will begin to know what suffering is and then he’ll die. Bye bitch.
I’m sorry, since this is all horrible, but “Jesus would like to be excluded from this narrative” actually made me spit coffee on my keyboard.
I sat Shiva for him YEARS ago…when Cosby went on his “Black Respectability Tour”….and have been hearing about his raping…for over 35 years…
Think about that….
I have-the things he said on that tour. Even the way he treated people like Eddie Murphy who idolized him….Eddie must be sitting in his house just shaking his head.
That statement is INSANE. Especially comparing him to Jesus, WTF.
Glad there’s a three year minimum, I was concerned he’d do a few months and be let go. It will never be enough for all the damage he’s done, but I hope this brings some sense of justice and comfort to his many, many victims.
A few years ago, he was the (usually older) celebrity guest at a well-known theater in my area. The annual gala is a fundraiser for the theater (which was a training ground for several well known actors). Attendees pay significant amounts to get a photo opp with the celebrity.
My boss attends each year, and usually the celebrity is dressed very nicely (matching the suits and cocktail dresses of the attendees). What did I-can’t-look-at-the-camera-for-my-mugshot wear? A gray Hello Friends sweatshirt and matching pants. I realize it’s a tad superficial, but that jumped out to me as an “I don’t care” attitude instead of some shtick.
I don’t know how this lawyer ever got into law school. His logical reasoning is non-existent.
It is completely ridiculous to compare Cosby to Kavanaugh while claiming that the verdict was based on racism and religious persecution. It is also hilarious to call a convicted rapist a victim of a “sex war”.
I guess he didn’t read where some of jurors were interviewed and said that his own confession in an old deposition that he regularly drugged women he wanted to have sex with is what convicted him.
My husband and I watched him coming out of the court house, heard his sentence and the fact he immediately was going to prison.
And we both teared up.
This is huge, I think the true beginning.
It shows everyone is accountable.
I think this in part started with Brock the rapist and that judge getting recalled.
But this is the beginning, if Cosby can drop from the top all the way down to prison, we have hope.
And I just want to say what BS his lawyer trying to blame this on racism yesterday.
Look who a huge chunk of his victims were.. Women of color. So it’s racist that WoC won justice?? It’s somehow racism that a rich powerful black man got sentenced to prison for drugging and raping women, in a lot of cases women of color.
But his moron lawyer can’t take away the fact Justice was done for these women but also our country. This sets a huge precident in prosecution and in public perception.
It gives me hope that even with what’s going on right now, we are changing, that there is still hope for our country and that we as a country will get justice
I do think Cosby, Kavanagh and Trump are a terrorist trio who sexually assaulted women with impunity. We have two more to lock up now. The least that asshat Kavanagh can do is to withdraw his nomination. He is a disgrace and it is horrendous that the Republicans STILL want to vote him into SCOTUS. The absolute gall of them all.