Bill Cosby Prison Sentence: Bill Cosby, once known as “America’s Dad,” was sentenced Tuesday to three to 10 years in a state prison for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home 14 years ago.
“This was a serious crime,” Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neill said. “Mr. Cosby, this has all circled back to you. The day has come, the time has come.”
Cosby, convicted in April of aggravated indecent assault, declined to speak to the court prior to the sentence in court in Pennsylvania. His attorneys have filed an appeal in the case. He also was ordered to pay a fine of $25,000 plus the costs of prosecution as part of the sentence.
Prosecutors asked the judge on Monday to sentence Cosby to five to 10 years in state prison for the assault, saying he had shown “no remorse” for his actions. However, Cosby’s defense attorney, Joseph P. Green, asked for a sentence of house arrest, citing Cosby’s advanced age and blindness.
The state sentencing guidelines indicate 22 to 36 months in prison, plus or minus 12 months because of aggravating or mitigating circumstances. However, judges are allowed to issue sentences beyond those guidelines.
In addition, O’Neill ruled that Bill Cosby will be classified as a “sexually violent predator,” a determination that requires lifetime registration, lifetime mandatory sex offender counseling with a treatment provider and notification to the community that a “sexually violent predator” lives in the area. It does not impact the length of the actual sentence.
