Bill Cosby has been sent to prison for three to 10 years in state prison, Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O'Neill ruled on Tuesday. ...
Bill Cosby has been sent to prison for three to 10 years in
state prison, Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O'Neill ruled on Tuesday.
The former television superstar was sentenced after being
found guilty of three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault in April in
one of the most widely publicised trials in modern history.
Cosby's legal team asked that he be released on bail,
pending his appeal. However, the judge denied that request. He will be sent to
prison immediately as Judge O'Neill deemed that he could "quite possibly
be a danger to the community."
The sentence is significantly lighter than the possible
maximum sentence for his crimes, each of which carry up to 10 years in prison,
meaning he could have served a 30 year maximum sentence. However, District
Attorney Kevin Steel asked O’Neill Monday to sentence Cosby, 81, to five to 10
years in state prison. However, Cosby’s defense team argued that even that
would cause “excessive hardship” to the elderly star.
“What does an 81-year-old man do in prison?” attorney
Joseph Green asked the court. “How does he fight off the people who are trying
to extort him, or walk to the mess hall?"
However, Cosby’s accuser, Andrea Constand, as well as the
more than 60 women who have come forward with allegations against him in recent
years, argued that the man once heralded as “America’s Dad” should not get a
pass for his crimes just because of his age and status.
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