Bill Cosby has been sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison for drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home.

Judge Steven O’Neill sentenced Cosby on Tuesday, five months after his conviction in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

Prosecutors were seeking a sentence of five to 10 years in prison. The defense asked for house arrest.

The 81-year-old comedian did not make a statement in court. Cosby sat back in his chair, his head on the headrest, as the sentence was read.

The entertainer once known as “America’s Dad” was convicted in April of sexually assaulting Temple University athletics administrator Andrea Constand in 2004.

Constand is one of about 60 women who have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct. </s> NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- A judge has sentenced Bill Cosby to three to 10 years in state prison, NBC reports.

Judge Steven O'Neill announced the sentence in court Tuesday afternoon. Prosecutors asked for five to 10 years in prison. The defense wanted house arrest, but District Attorney Kevin Steele says the sentencing rules don't allow it.

A jury convicted Cosby of drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home. Cosby was convicted after the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

The 81-year-old TV star declined to make a statement at his two-day sentencing hearing. The woman he attacked, Andrea Constand, says she's had to cope with years of pain, anxiety and self-doubt.

The judge ruled that Bill Cosby is a "sexually violent predator."

The classification means that Cosby must undergo lifetime counseling and report quarterly to authorities. His name will appear on a sex-offender registry sent to neighbors, schools and victims.

Judge Steven O'Neill made the decision Tuesday as he prepares to sentence the 81-year-old comedian for drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

Cosby's lawyers had fought the "sexually violent predator" designation, arguing that Pennsylvania's sex-offender law remains unconstitutional despite several revisions. </s> Cosby Sentenced To 3 To 10 Years In Prison

Actor and comedian Bill Cosby is sentenced to at least three years in state prison after his conviction earlier this year for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman. </s> NORRISTOWN: Disgraced US television icon Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison by a judge on Tuesday (Sep 25) and branded a "sexually violent predator" for assaulting a woman at his Philadelphia mansion 14 years ago.



The 81-year-old, once beloved as "America's Dad," is the first celebrity convicted and sentenced for a sex crime since the downfall of Harvey Weinstein ushered in the #MeToo movement and America's reckoning with sexual harassment.

Convicted five months ago of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand, a former university basketball administrator, he showed no reaction when Judge Steven O'Neill handed down the sentence in a court in Norristown, Pennsylvania. </s> was sentenced Tuesday by a court in Norristown, Pennsylvania, to a minimum of three years in state prison for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004.

Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill handed down the sentence of 3-10 years a few hours after accepting the recommendation of a state panel to classify the 81-year-old comedian as a "sexually violent predator", Efe reported.

Cosby was led handcuffed from the courtroom by police after the judge refused to release him on bail during pending appeals.

The sexual predator designation implies that Cosby will be included in sex-offender registries that are sent to schools and that must submit to regular therapy sessions for the rest of his life.

The trial charged Cosby with sexual aggression against Andrea Constand in 2004.

The comedian met Constand in 2001 when she was working as an administrator with the Temple University women's basketball team and Cosby, the school's most famous alumnus, sat on the Philadelphia institution's board of trustees.

Constand, now 45, said that during an early 2004 visit to Cosby's mansion in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, he drugged her and penetrated her with his fingers while she was immobilized by the effect of the drug.

Though the maximum sentence he could have received was 30 years behind bars, the judge himself asked for a prison sentence of 5-10 years.

More than 60 women have accused of sexually abusing them between 1960-2000, but those alleged offences could not be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations.

According to the plea entered by the prosecution, Cosby remains a risk to women, an argument used to request that he be deprived of his freedom and which was accepted by the judge.

For its part, the defence had portrayed Cosby as a disabled old man who posed no threat to society, and introduced Tuesday the testimony of a psychologist who supported his attorney's plea that he be released. </s> Bill Cosby’s lawyers have filed a list of 11 alleged trial errors as they try to undo his sexual assault conviction and three- to 10-year prison term.

Bill Cosby’s lawyers have filed a list of 11 alleged trial errors as they try to undo his sexual assault conviction and three- to 10-year prison term.

The lawyers filed a motion on Tuesday saying Pennsylvania trial Judge Steven O’Neill had a feud with a key pre-trial witness, the former county prosecutor who declined to arrest Cosby a decade earlier.

And they say his decisions to let five other accusers give evidence, air some of Cosby’s deposition from the accuser’s lawsuit and dismiss the promise not to charge Cosby are grounds for a new trial.

A jury convicted the 81-year-old Cosby this spring of drugging and molesting a woman in 2004, in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

The legally blind comedian is housed in a new state prison about 20 miles from his Philadelphia-area estate. </s> PHILADELPHIA — Bill Cosby’s lawyers have filed a list of 11 alleged trial errors as they try to undo his sexual assault conviction and three- to 10-year prison term.

The lawyers filed a motion Tuesday saying Pennsylvania trial Judge Steven O’Neill had a feud with a key pretrial witness, the former county prosecutor who declined to arrest Cosby a decade earlier.

And they say his decisions to let five other accusers testify, air some of Cosby’s deposition from the accuser’s lawsuit and dismiss the promise not to charge Cosby are grounds for a new trial.

A jury convicted the 81-year-old Cosby this spring of drugging and molesting a woman in 2004, in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

The legally blind comedian is housed in a new state prison about 20 mile (32 kilometres) from his Philadelphia-area estate. </s> NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Bill Cosby, who for years dodged accusations that he had preyed on women while brightening America’s living rooms as a beloved father figure, left a courtroom in handcuffs on Tuesday after he was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman in his home.

The sentence capped Mr. Cosby’s stunning fall from a towering figure in popular culture to an 81-year-old convicted sex offender.

“It is time for justice,” Judge Steven T. O’Neill said as he announced the term. “Mr. Cosby, this has all circled back to you. The day has come. The time has come.” Acknowledging the impact that the case has had on Mr. Cosby’s legacy, Judge O’Neill added: “Fallen angels suffer most.”

Mr. Cosby, who has said he will appeal the conviction, was denied bail and ordered to prison immediately. </s> Actor and comedian Bill Cosby was sentenced to between three and 10 years in prison on Tuesday for sexually assaulting a woman more than a decade ago.

Cosby was convicted in April of three counts of indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting his one-time friend Andrea Constand, a former Temple University administrator, at his Philadelphia home in 2004.

Pennsylvania Judge Steven O'Neill also deemed Cosby a "sexually violent predator", meaning that he must undergo monthly counselling for the rest of his life and report quarterly to authorities. Cosby's name will appear on a sex-offender registry sent to neighbours, schools and victims. The actor was also fined $25,000.

His lawyers have said they will appeal the conviction, which observers say could push the case up to the state's highest court and take several years.

Cosby, known as "America's Dad" for his role on the Cosby Show, was the first celebrity to be convicted after the #MeToo movement was popularised following a number of allegations against well-known individuals in October 2017.

Prosecutors had asked for five to 10 years in prison. The defence requested house arrest, saying Cosby is too old and helpless to do time behind bars. He is legally blind.

Cosby's lawyers had also fought the "sexually violent predator" designation, arguing that Pennsylvania's sex-offender law remains unconstitutional and that he is no threat to the public at his age.

But O'Neill said prosecutors had met their burden of proof by "clear and convincing" evidence.

When the sex predator ruling came down, a woman in courtroom shot her fist into the air and whispered, "Yessss!"

Constand spoke briefly on the first day of the hearing on Monday, saying "all I am asking for is justice as the court sees fit."

In a statement submitted to the court and released on Tuesday, the 45-year-old said she has had to cope with years of anxiety and self-doubt that have left her "stuck in a holding pattern".

Constand said her training as a professional basketball player had led her to think she could handle anything, but "life as I knew it" ended on the night that Cosby knocked her out with pills and violated her.

Constand said she now has trouble trusting people.

"When the sexual assault happened, I was a young woman brimming with confidence and looking forward to a future bright with possibilities," she wrote in her five-page statement.

"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 to move forward."

In the years since Constand first went to authorities in 2005, more than 60 women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct, though none of those claims have led to criminal charges. Cosby's first trial in 2017 ended in a mistrial when jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict.

The judge, on Tuesday, ruled on Cosby's sex-offender status after a defence psychologist, Timothy Foley, testified that the chances of the comedian committing another sex offence are "extraordinarily low" because he is old, legally blind and needs help getting around.

On Monday, a psychologist for the state testified that Cosby appears to have a mental disorder that gives him an uncontrollable urge to assault women.

Cosby was smiling and joking with his spokesman and sheriff's deputies as he settled into the courtroom Tuesday. On the first day of the sentencing, the comic laughed at times as the psychologist on the stand for the state portrayed him as a sexual predator with signs of a mental disorder. Cameras were not allowed in the courtroom.

Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt said the former TV star planned to remain silent when given the opportunity to address the court. Cosby did not testify at either of his two trials.

The proceedings took place as women and others across the US protested against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who faces allegations of sexual misconduct by two women. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.

Tuesday's sentencing was a reckoning accusers and prosecutors said was decades in the making for the once-beloved entertainer known for his role as wise and understanding Dr Cliff Huxtable on the top-ranked, 1980s-era Cosby Show.

Cosby became the first black actor to star in a prime-time TV show, I Spy, in 1965. He remained a Hollywood A-lister for much of the next half-century.
American actor/comedian Bill Cosby is sentenced to three to ten years in a Pennsylvania prison for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004.