Bill Cosby Sentenced Three to Ten Years in Prison for Sexual Assault

bill cosby left a pennsylvania courtroom in handcuffs on tuesday after he was sentenced three to ten years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman in his home 14 years ago. cosby, 81, is now a registered sex offender. he will appeal the decision, was denied bail and ordered to prison immediately.

cosby was found guilty in april 2018 of drugging and sexually assaulting andrea constand, a former temple university employee to whom he had been a mentor. constand, now a massage therapist in canada, was joined in the montgomery county courthouse by at least nine other women who accused cosby of sexual abuse. 

constand, in a victim-impact statement wrote, "life as i knew it came to an abrupt halt. i was a young woman brimming with confidence and looking forward to a future bright with possibilities. now, almost 15 years later, i'm a middle-aged woman who's been stuck in a holding pattern for most of her adult life, unable to heal fully or move forward."

judge steven o'neill said as he announced cosby's term, "it is time for justice. mr. cosby this has all circled back to you. fallen angels suffer most." a publicist for cosby, andrew wyatt, decried the verdict outside the courtroom. wyatt called the proceedings, "the most racist and sexist trial in the history of the united states."

cosby's defense team argued his relationship with constand was consensual, and the drug he gave her, benadryl, was to relax her because she was tense. after his subsequent arrest in december 2015, cosby's first trial ended inconclusively with a hung jury after six days of deliberations.

but at the retrial here in april - in the same courthouse and before the same judge - a jury convicted cosby, on the second day of their deliberations, with three counts of aggravated indecent assault. one major difference in the second trial was the judge's decision to allow five additional women to testify against cosby. their testimony bolstered constrand's.

cosby faced a maximum 30-year prison term: 10 years for each of three counts of assault he was convicted of. but judge o'neill chose to merge the counts into one, as is allowed when they stem from the same event. under pennsylavania sentencing guidelines, cosby might be eligible for parole after serving three years - and may serve a maximum of 10 years in prison.