Bill Cosby fights violent sexual predator label
The comedian could face a more stringent parole and mandatory treatment
Bill Cosby will not be forced to face a parade of accusers at his upcoming sentencing, a judge ruled.
Montgomery County prosecutors had asked Judge Steven O’Neill to consider the testimony other accusers when he sentences the 81-year-old next week, which would have left Cosby facing significantly more jail time.
Yet O’Neill on Thursday shot down that request, saying that in his “exhaustive review” of Pennsylvania law, he found no precedent that would allow him to weigh uncharged conduct in his sentencing.
Cosby has been accused by some 60 women of various drug-facilitated sex crimes, ranging from assault to rape.
The aged entertainer was convicted at retrial of three charges of aggravated indecent assault for the 2004 drugging and molesting of Andrea Constand. He faces up to ten years behind bars on each count.
Five other women took the stand alongside Constand to describe being attacked by Cosby — including former supermodel Janice Dickinson — as prosecutors tried to prove the assault on Constand wasn’t an isolated incident.
While the judge’s decision bars any other accusers from testifying next week, his Thursday ruling gave prosecutors 24 hours to clarify whether or not they intend to have Heidi Thomas, Chelan Lasha, Janice Baker-Kinney, Janice Dickinson, or Maud Lise-Lotte Lublin give statements at the sentencing.
Both Constand and Cosby will also be given chances to address the court.
O’Neill’s Thursday ruling comes just a day after he smacked down a second defense attempt to get him tossed from the case.
Cosby is scheduled for sentencing Monday, Sept. 24. The proceeding is expected to last two days.
This story originally appeared in the New York Post.
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