Bill Cosby Sentenced to 3 to 10 Years in Prison for Sexual Assault

On Tuesday, the world found out just how much time Bill Cosby—the comedian who was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman 14 years ago—could spend behind bars when he was sentenced to three to 10 years in a Pennsylvania state prison, the New York Times reports.

In April, Cosby was found guilty on three felony counts of sexual assault—including penetration with lack of consent, penetration while unconscious, and penetration after administering an intoxicant—against Andrea Constand. The incident occurred in 2004 when Cosby, now 81, was mentoring Constand during her time working for Temple University's basketball team.

While each of his charges carried a maximum sentence of 10 years, prosecutors and the defense agreed to merge the three counts into one for sentencing purposes. He has also been registered for life as a "sexually violent predator." That means he will also have to inform state police and any community he resides in of his sex offender status.

In delivering his sentence, Judge Steven O'Neill said "equal justice under the law" meant that Cosby should not be sentenced differently based on "who he is or who he was."

"This was a serious crime," he said. "Mr. Cosby this has all circled back to you. The day has come, the time has come."

The conviction, which was a high-profile first since the dawning of the #MeToo era, came during a second trial, after the first ended in a mistrial, and included testimony from Constand and five other women—Heidi Thomas, Chena Lasha, Janice Dickinson, Janice Baker-Kinney, and Lise-Lotte Lublin—who say that Cosby also drugged and assaulted them. Over the years, nearly 60 women have come forward with similar accusations against the comedian, but Judge O'Neill capped the number who could testify during the trial.

“I just wasn't myself. I really wanted to know what Mr. Cosby gave me and why he did that to me. And I was never my whole Andrea, not knowing the answers to those questions," Constand testified during the trial. "My life was changed from the day that I reported this to the police. My life was never the same.”

During the sentencing hearing, the state argued that Cosby should be labeled a "sexually violent predator" because he has a mental disorder that involves urges toward non-consenting women. "The behaviors are beyond their controls, so they are urged to act on it. He is likely to reoffend," said Kristen Dudley, a psychologist and a member of the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board.

“Mr. Cosby is not dangerous,” his attorney Joshua Green argued. “Eighty-one-year-old blind men are not self-sufficient—they’re only dangerous to themselves.”

“What they’re asking for is a ‘get out of jail free’ card," District Attorney Kevin Steele said of the defense. "To say that he couldn’t do this again to anybody? That runs in the face of what you have seen here and who this is."

In a powerful victim impact statement, Constand wrote, "We may never know the full extent of his double life as a sexual predator but his decades-long reign of terror as a serial rapist is over."

"Bill Cosby took my beautiful, healthy young spirit and crushed it. He robbed me of my health and vitality, my open nature, and my trust in myself and others," she continued.

Cosby did not testify at the hearing, speaking only to ask for some clarifications around his sex offender status.

Social media reaction was swift.

Cosby was denied bail and walked out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

This is a developing story.

MORE: Watch the Emotional Reactions to the Guilty Verdict in the Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Trial