(Newswire.net— April 28, 2018) — Bill Cosby faces prison time as the jury in Pennsylvania found him guilty of sexual assault on his former friend.
After a 14 hour session, the jury found the 80-year-old comedian guilty on three counts of drug abuse and sexual assault on his former friend Andrea Constand in 2004.
Cosby, the comedy star is best known for his role in the television series The Cosby Show in which he played the role of a family man, a psychologist with a strong sense of morality and ethics. The scandal broke after numerous female coworkers ended their silence and spoke about how Cosby drugged them and then sexually abused them.
The actor’s defense team tried to represent Ms. Constad as not so unaware of Mr. Cosby’s romantic intentions as she had indicated.
As the jury found Cosby guilty, he faces 30 years in prison, 10 for each of the three counts. Giving Cosby’s age, the judge may decide that he could serve any sentence concurrently.
Bill Cosby, the first big black actor on TV, will remain out of prison until a verdict is delivered, the judge decided. After pronouncing the verdict, there was unscrupulous shouting in the court, as the prosecutors claimed that he should be denied bail.
No sentencing date has been set, but that would typically occur within two to three months. Until then, Cosby remains free on a $1 million bail, but he is essentially confined by order of the court to his Pennsylvania home until the sentencing hearing.
It was the second time that the actor had been tried for these allegations, since the earlier jury failed to rule in June 2017. At the beginning of a retrial in Pennsylvania, it was revealed that Cosby paid Mrs. Constand nearly $ 3.4 million in 2006.
About 60 women over a period of five decades publicly accused the Emmy award winning actor of being a sex predator.
Due to the law on obsolescence at the trial, only one indictment was raised. Some of his prosecutors were present in the court and cried when the guilt was adjudicated.