26 April 2018
Bill Cosby guilty on all three counts in indecent assault faces up to 30 years in prison
By Eric Levenson and Aaron Cooper, CNN
Norristown, Pennsylvania (CNN)The jury in Bill Cosby's retrial found the TV icon guilty of all three counts of aggravated indecent assault on Thursday for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in a Philadelphia suburb in 2004.
The 80-year-old comedian faces up to 10 years in prison on each count, but is likely to serve them concurrently. A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled, and he remains out on bail.
Cosby did not have an audible reaction to his conviction, but erupted shortly afterward. Minutes after the verdict, prosecutors asked the judge to revoke Cosby's bail because, they said, he is a flight risk and has a private plane.
Cosby, who did not testify in the trial and has sat quietly throughout the proceedings, then stood up and yelled in a loud, booming voice: "He doesn't have a plane, you asshole."
Judge Steven O'Neill ruled that Cosby should not leave his Pennsylvania home, and that he would need to be fitted with a GPS tracking device.
The case was the first celebrity sexual assault trial since the #MeToo movement began last fall, and as such, represented a test of how the cultural movement translates into a courtroom arena.
"What was revealed through this investigation was a man who had spent decades preying on women that he drugged and sexually assaulted, and a man who evaded this moment right here far too long," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele told reporters. "He used his celebrity, he used his wealth, he used his network of supporters to help him conceal his crimes."
Cosby's attorney, Tom Mesereau, said he plans to appeal "very strongly."
"We are very disappointed by the verdict. We don't think Mr. Cosby's guilty of anything and the fight is not over," he said.
What the case was about
The case against Cosby centered on testimony from Constand, a former employee with Temple University women's basketball team. She testified that Cosby, a powerful trustee at Temple, drugged her and sexually assaulted her when she visited his home to ask for career advice 14 years ago.
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