Bill Cosby will be convicted of sexual assault in the Andrea Constand case



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The sentencing process for Bill Cosby begins Monday in a courtroom outside of Philadelphia, and the punitive fate of the artist could be clear by Tuesday.

Cosby, 81, was convicted in April of three counts of indecent assault against 45-year-old Andrea Constand, who claimed to have drugged and assaulted her home in Pennsylvania in 2004.

Each leader counts 22 months to 10 years behind bars, but it is possible, given his age, that Cosby's defense team advocates for house arrest. The judge could also match the possible penalties, so that a maximum of 10 years would be the case for the whole case.

The Cosby Show
Bill Cosby as Dr. Heathcliff's Cliff & # 39; HuxtableFrank Carroll / NBC via Getty Images

Cosby's lawyers said that they plan to appeal, no matter.

"I still think that an older defendant will argue that given his age, he should be allowed to stay out of the call," said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in an email. . "However, I do not think it's a certainty, and although Cosby is not a risk of flight, he does not seem to have a clear winner for his call."

The factors that act against the comedian include the lack of public remorse, no excuses and no criticism of the judge in the case, Steven T. O'Neill, who was the subject of explicit reviews of the showman. And Camille Cosby said last week in a state ethics complaint that the judge had a bias against her husband.

Cosby settled Constand's civil claim in 2006 for $ 3.4 million. We do not know if this could weigh for or against him.

Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents three of the five accusers allowed to testify in the lawsuit, argues that nothing less than the time spent in jail for Cosby will be considered a "celebrity justice".

"He should not get a pass," she said. "And I do not think he should be released while waiting for his call."

Catharine A. MacKinnon, a law professor at the University of Michigan, who helped develop a scholarship on harassment at work, said testimony in the two-day process could be instrumental for the result. More than 60 other women have made allegations ranging from trial and error to rape, and many have claimed that Cosby drugged them.

O'Neill has ruled that additional accusers can not weigh during sentencing. It is unclear whether the five women who testified against Cosby during the trial will be eligible to speak.

Image: Andrea Constand leaves court after a verdict of guilty has been handed down in Cosby's lawsuit
Andrea Constand, in the center, leaves the courthouse after the guilty verdict was passed in Bill Cosby's trial at the Montgomery County Court House on April 26, 2018 in Norristown, Pennsylvania.Mark Makela / Getty Images

"Whoever testifies at the sentencing hearing should be watched carefully," MacKinnon said by e-mail. "The charges are real, said the jury, and the sentence should take into account all relevant factors and be proportionate."

With a verdict of 2018 coming up the year following the departure of the #MeToo social media movement, Cosby could be considered a pernicious pioneer of the consequences of sexual assault in Hollywood.

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