NORRISTOWN, Pa. (Reuters) – Bill Cosby arrived in court on Tuesday to learn whether he will go to prison for sexual assault as his sentencing hearing in a Pennsylvania courtroom concludes, capping a remarkable fall from grace for the comedian once known as “America’s Dad.”
Prosecutors have asked that Cosby, who was found guilty in April, be sentenced to the maximum sentence of between five and 10 years in prison. He is the first celebrity to be convicted since the emergence last year of the #MeToo movement, the national reckoning with sexual misconduct that has ended the careers of powerful men in entertainment, politics and other fields.
Cosby, 81, cemented his family-friendly reputation playing the mischievous but lovable Dr. Cliff Huxtable in the 1980s sitcom “The Cosby Show.”
That has since been eclipsed by his conviction for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former administrator at his alma mater Temple University, in his Philadelphia-area home in 2004. More than 50 other women also have accused him of sexual abuse going back decades, with most too old to prosecute. The Constand case is the only allegation that has resulted in a conviction.
Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Steven O’Neill said he must first rule on whether to designate Cosby a “sexually violent predator” under state law, and arguments continued on Tuesday morning.
The designation comes with strict requirements, including monthly counseling and registration as a sex offender with police for the rest of his life.
On Monday, the judge heard from a state-appointed psychologist who said the designation was necessary because there was a risk of Cosby committing another offense.
But a psychologist for the defense, Timothy Foley, told the court on Tuesday that he had evaluated Cosby and found his age and physical impairments, including blindness and difficulty walking, made recidivism unlikely.
“Recidivism declines after age 70 to become virtually negligible,” Foley said. “He is extremely low risk.”
Prosecutors have argued that the nature of Cosby’s crime as well as his alleged history of misconduct warrant a lengthy prison term. If ever he came up for parole, prosecutors want him to submit to a “psychosexual evaluation” that he had refused prior to sentencing.
Cosby’s lawyers asked for house arrest rather than prison time, arguing that incarceration would be overly punitive given his age and physical condition.
Constand, the victim in the case, spoke briefly on the first day of the hearing on Monday.
“Your honor, I have testified,” Constand said. “I have given you my victim impact statement. The jury heard me. Mr. Cosby heard me. All I am asking for is justice as the court sees fit.”
Cosby’s first trial in 2017 ended in a mistrial when jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict. Soon after that proceeding, a series of women began leveling sexual misconduct allegations against influential men, launching the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements that have encouraged victims to speak up about their experiences.
Reporting by David DeKok; Writing by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Joseph Ax and Tom Brown