Bill Cosby is in court in Norristown, Pa., where he's to be sentenced for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home close to Philadelphia fourteen years ago.
• A psychologist representing Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offenders Assessment Board testified Monday that Mr. Cosby had a temperament disorder evident in his lifetime of interest in non-consenting women.
• He's possible to be incarcerated, though it's unclear for what length of time. An open question is whether or not he can be allowed to remain free throughout the expected charm of his conviction.
• At least six women who have accused Mr. Cosby of comparable acts of sexual abuse were in the courtroom to look at the sentencing, however Mr. Cosby’s wife, Camille, was not.
• Ms. Constand was additionally there and could speak in court, though it's unclear if other ladies who testified against Mr. Cosby can have the chance. Mr. Cosby is permitted to talk, but his legal team has not said whether or not he will.
How long a sentence can Mr. Cosby expect?
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Once one in all the world’s best-known entertainers, Mr. Cosby, eighty one, might become one of the foremost famous Americans ever to enter a jail cell. At a time when the country is coming back to terms with a culture of predatory sexual abuse by powerful men, his sentencing can also underscore what's the first major conviction of the #MeToo era.
Mr. Cosby faces a most 30-year jail term, 10 years for every of three counts of aggravated indecent assault he was convicted of.
The counts are likely to be merged, but, or be served concurrently, in which case Mr. Cosby may be facing, at most, ten years. Counts will be merged once they stem from the same event. In this case, they originated with the encounter in January 2004 when, Ms. Constand said, Mr. Cosby sexually assaulted her when giving her pills that made her drift out and in of consciousness.
Judge Steven T. O’Neill of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas can have to think about state pointers that advocate, but do not mandate, appropriate sentence ranges. Those tips, which account for any previous criminal record (Mr. Cosby has none), the seriousness of his offense, and mitigating and aggravating factors, counsel a range of regarding ten months to four years, consistent with Barbara Ashcroft, a former sex crimes prosecutor in Pennsylvania.
A brand new York Times analysis of Pennsylvania court data for the past five years showed that offenders convicted of crimes just like Mr. Cosby’s were often given sentences of 2 to five years.
(Sentences in Pennsylvania are given as a vary of a minimum and a maximum. Inmates with smart behavior could be eligible for parole when they have reached the minimum.)
However Decide O’Neill has wide discretion in determining the sentence.
Mrs. Cosby is not in attendance
Camille Cosby had been vocal in recent days in attacking the fairness of the trial and, in explicit, the behavior of Choose O’Neill, who she has said should be investigated by a state judicial conduct panel.
However she was not with Mr. Cosby when he entered the courthouse at 9:08 a.m., sporting a dark suit and sporting a blue handkerchief in his breast pocket. He sat quietly at the front of the court with his lawyers, Joseph P. Green, who is handling the sentencing, and Peter Goldberger, his appeals lawyer.
3 of the five ladies who testified at the trial, and gave their own accounts of sexual abuse by Mr. Cosby — Chelan Lasha, Janice Dickinson and Lise-Lotte Lublin — were in court, sitting close to the front. Several different Cosby accusers were also gift including Tamara Green, Therese Serignese and Lili Bernard.
Ms. Constand was conjointly in the space, in the course of her mother, father and sister.
For several of these Cosby accusers, and others, the jury verdict in April had appeared a watershed moment, one that reflected how the accounts of female accusers were being afforded bigger credibility. But the difficulty is way from settled, as is obvious in the talk over how to read the accusations of sexual impropriety now being brought forward by girls concerning Choose Brett M. Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court nominee.
A psychologist finds that Mr. Cosby includes a temperament disorder
Before the sentencing itself, prosecutors pushed forward with an effort to possess Mr. Cosby categorized as a “sexually violent predator.”
A Pennsylvania state board had recommended such a classification, that can be a issue in sentencing and in the conditions imposed on a person found to be a predator, both in jail and afterward. But the final call rests with Choose O’Neill who heard testimony within the morning from the psychologist, Kristen F. Dudley, who had ready the board report.
She said Mr. Cosby had a personality disorder that displayed itself in a very lifetime of interest in nonconsenting girls. She said that, while Mr. Cosby had declined to satisfy with her, she was in a position to draw that conclusion by browsing “boxes of documents,” together with transcripts from Mr. Cosby’s 2 trials.
She said an interview had not been necessary. “A review of records is sufficient,” she said.
One important issue in her conclusion, she said, was what she described as Mr. Cosby’s use of friendship to create trust that gave him access to Ms. Constand. “He used that friendship, that relationship, that trust to require advantage of her,” the psychologist said.
She said she had drawn this conclusion as a result of of the behavior he had demonstrated over 30 years, throughout which time he had engaged in grooming behavior.
Mr. Cosby’s legal team had objected to the entire discussion, asserting that the legality of the state’s predator determination process is questionable as a result of, among other things, it will use the “beyond affordable” doubt formula for findings in criminal cases.
“The statute is unconstitutional,” said Mr. Green, but the decide found otherwise.
Prosecutors said the law was not punitive and was meant to shield the community.
Tracy Piatkowski, an assistant district attorney, argued that the determination method was “rooted in legitimate governmental interest in protecting vulnerable members of the community against predation.”
If the decide agrees with the board’s psychological assessment, Mr. Cosby would be needed to possess routine counseling for the rest of his life, and whether or not not sentenced to jail, he would be required to report monthly to the police. The law is that the state’s version of Megan’s Law, a federal statute that needs the monitoring of convicted sex offenders.
Will he say ‘I’m sorry’?
Prosecutors can argue for robust sentencing and emphasize aggravating factors such as the character of Mr. Cosby’s crime and his observe of giving medication to ladies.
Ms. Constand, who now works as a massage therapist in Canada, is possible to speak concerning the impact on her life. One or additional of her family members might also testify regarding how she was affected.
Dozens of other women have accused Mr. Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them and a number of those accusers, whose cases didn't finish in criminal charges, are doubtless to be in the courtroom. Choose O’Neill rejected a prosecution request to allow different ladies to inform their accounts at the hearing, though it is unclear whether that ruling can apply to the five ladies he allowed to testify at Mr. Cosby’s trial.
Mr. Cosby’s defense team will purpose to mitigating factors, including his advanced age and the fact that he is legally blind. Mr. Cosby is way older than others convicted of the same crime in Pennsylvania within the past five years, per sentencing information.
To bolster its arguments, the defense team might gift witnesses to discuss, for example, his smart character or any sensible works.
However the foremost important and powerful moment of the hearing may come back if Mr. Cosby, who has denied sexually abusing any of the ladies, decides to talk and express remorse.
“There has not been any sense of contrition or regret, and it'd be the news story of the day if he stood up and said, ‘Judge, I am sorry,’” said Daniel M. Filler, dean of the Kline School of Law at Drexel University in Philadelphia. “However it’s not likely to happen.”
Can he stay free on appeal?
Mr. Cosby’s lawyers have filed many motions suggesting that they can file an appeal that challenges the judge’s trial and pretrial rulings and even the choose’s personal integrity.
A key question at the sentencing hearing is whether Mr. Cosby can be allowed to remain out on bail while he pursues those appeals, a method that would take years.
His lawyers can argue that he is not a flight risk, and that he's not going to commit another crime.
But if Choose O’Neill were to allow him to stay at home, the choose would surely face bitter criticism from the various female accusers hopeful for closure in the week. “I don’t assume the choose can let him out on appeal; he has had his freedom for a long time,” said Ms. Ashcroft, the previous prosecutor.
If he is not allowed to remain free throughout appeals, and he is sentenced to less than 2 years, he will serve his time during a county facility. If he's sentenced to 2 years or more, he can move to state prison, initially State Correctional Institution Phoenix, a brand new facility in the Philadelphia suburbs where he will be evaluated, per Amy Worden, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
Pennsylvania has many places equipped to care for older or frail inmates, and Mr. Cosby would share a 2-person cell or might be kept alone in solitary confinement if his safety is in danger or he is judged to be a threat to others.