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NORRISTOWN, Pa. – Bill Cosby was sentenced Tuesday afternoon to three to ten years for sexually assaulting a woman from his suburb of Philadelphia in 2004, the last leg of his descent from the American father to a convicted felon.
Judge Steven T. O'Neill of Montgomery County has denied Cosby's bail application pending his appeal. Cosby took off his jacket, looked and tie, two deputy sheriffs handcuffed him to transport him to jail.
Cosby showed no visible reaction to the sentence, which was close to the maximum that could be imposed. He sat in the audience room, chatting quietly with his lawyers and two friends during a break.
Under the Pennsylvania law, Cosby will have to serve the minimum of three years before being eligible for parole. The maximum possible sentence was five to ten years behind bars.
"This is a serious crime," said O'Neill, who rejected the application for house arrest, partial confinement and even the opportunity to serve his sentence in the county jail as opposed to the jail. State.
O'Neill stated that he placed a high value on the impact of the sexual assault on the victim, Andrea Constand, who was sitting in the courtroom at the time of the announcement of the sentence. "I weigh heavily on the impact of the crime on the victim and his family," O'Neill said.
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Cosby publicist Andrew Wyatt denounced the result in a statement in court.
"This has been the most racist and sexist trial in the history of the United States," he said, blaming at the feet ofWhite women who make money by accusing black men of being sexually violent predators.
"They persecuted Jesus and watched what happened," Wyatt added. "Mr. Cosby is fine, he's good, anyone who wants to say something negative is also a joke."
Cosby's wife, Camille, through a spokesperson, issued a statement that prosecutors should have used "falsified evidence".
Earlier in the day, Mr. O. Neill said that the former TV star was a "sexually violent predator." This designation means that Cosby, who is legally blind, will be subject to reporting requirements. authorities of the place where he resides.
District Attorney Kevin Steele has asked O'Neill to impose a maximum sentence of five to ten years in the state and to reject defense arguments that Cosby should be allowed to serve a sentence under house arrest.
"This should be a state prison sentence," said Steele, who said the state even has a penitentiary facility for elderly and infirm inmates.
Green rejected the prosecution's assertion that Cosby was to be considered dangerous, saying he could not recall any case in which an 81-year-old blind defendant had been sent to prison.
In April, Cosby was convicted of assaulting Constand, who was the director of operations for Temple University's women's basketball team, where Cosby was an important supporter and donor.
It was the first time a celebrity was condemned in the passionate atmosphere of the #MeToo movement, and the case provided a backdrop not only for Constand's allegation, but also for some of the dozens of other women who accused Cosby of to attack them and faithfully attend the court proceedings.
But only Constand's assertion was at the center of a criminal trial and she was in court for the conviction, telling O'Neill that she was only asking for "justice as she pleased."
Constand, who is now a massage therapist in Canada, testified at the April trial and at a trial last year that ended with a gracious jury: she had become friends with Cosby and had considered him a mentor.
She testified that she had taken three blue pills that Cosby had offered her during a visit to her home outside Philadelphia in early 2004 because she trusted Cosby and believed that they were a kind of relaxing herbal. But then, she said, she quickly became unfit and felt her fingers inside her, but "could not fight it".
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