Comedian, Actor, Musician, Author Jill Cosby convicted 3 counts at 80 years old
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| Jill Cosby |
VietPress USA (April 26, 2018): According to Wikipedia, William Henry Cosby Jr. aka Jill Kosby, born July 12, 1937, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, musician, author, and convicted felon.
His start in stand-up comedy began at the hungry in San Francisco. He then landed a starring role in the 1960s television show I Spy, followed by his own sitcom, The Bill Cosby Show, which ran for two seasons from 1969 to 1971.
Using the Fat Albert character developed during his stand-up routines, Cosby created, produced, and hosted the animated comedy television series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, a show that ran from 1972 to 1985, centering on a group of young friends growing up in an urban area. Throughout the 1970s, Cosby starred in a number of films, and he occasionally returned to film later in his career. He attended Temple University in the 1960s and received his bachelor's degree there in 1971. In 1973, he received a master's degree from the University of Massachusetts, and in 1976, he earned his Doctor of Education degree, also from UMass. His dissertation discussed the use of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids as a teaching tool in elementary schools.
Beginning in the 1980s, Cosby produced and starred in a television sitcom, The Cosby Show, which aired from 1984 to 1992 and was rated as the number one show in America for five years, 1984 through 1989. The sitcom highlighted the experiences and growth of an affluent African-American family. Cosby produced the Cosby Show spin-off sitcom A Different World, which aired from 1987 to 1993, starred in The Cosby Mysteries from 1994 to 1995, starred in the sitcom Cosby from 1996 to 2000; and hosted Kids Say the Darndest Things for two seasons, from 1998 to 2000.
Numerous sexual assault allegations, the earliest of which date back decades, have been made against Cosby; these allegations did not become highly publicized until 2014. More than 60 women have accused him of rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, and sexual misconduct. The statute of limitations has expired in nearly all accusations. On April 26, 2018, he was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault.
Cosby has been the subject of publicized sexual assault allegations. With the earliest incidents allegedly taking place in the mid-1960s, Cosby has been accused by numerous women of rape, drug facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery, child sexual abuse, or sexual misconduct. Assault allegations against Cosby became more public after an October 2014 comedy routine by comedian Hannibal Buress alluding to Cosby's covert sexual misbehavior went viral, and many additional claims were made after that date. The dates of the alleged incidents span from 1965 to 2008 across 10 U.S. states and one Canadian province.
Cosby has maintained his innocence and repeatedly denied the allegations. In November 2014, in response to a question about the allegations, Cosby said: "I don't talk about it".
Cosby has declined to publicly discuss the accusations in past interviews. However, he told Florida Today, "people shouldn't have to go through that and shouldn't answer to innuendos". In May 2015 he said, "I have been in this business 52 years and I've never seen anything like this. Reality is a situation and I can't speak."
In the wake of the allegations, numerous organizations have severed ties with the comedian, and previously awarded honors and titles have been revoked. Reruns of The Cosby Show and other shows featuring Cosby have also been pulled from syndication by many organizations. Twenty-five colleges and universities have rescinded his honorary degrees. In an attempt to explain the backlash against Cosby, Adweek reporter Jason Lynch noted that the "media landscape has changed considerably—and has now been joined by the far-less-forgiving social media arena".
Most of the alleged acts fall outside the statutes of limitations for criminal legal proceedings, but criminal charges have been filed against Cosby in one case and numerous civil lawsuits have been brought against him. As of November 2015, eight related civil lawsuits are active against Cosby. Gloria Allred is representing 33 of the alleged victims. In July 2015, some of the court records from Andrea Constand's 2005 civil lawsuit against Cosby were unsealed and released to the public. The full transcript of his deposition was also released to the media by a court reporting service. In his testimony, Cosby admitted to casual sex, involving recreational use of the sedative-hypnotic methaqualone (Quaaludes), with a series of young women, and acknowledged that his dispensing the prescription drug was illegal.
In December 2015, three Class II felony charges of aggravated indecent assault were filed against Cosby in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, based on allegations by Constand concerning incidents in January 2004. Cosby's first trial, in June 2017, ended in a mistrial. In his retrial by a jury, he was found guilty on April 26, 2018, of three counts of aggravated indecent assault.
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Bill Cosby convicted of drugging and molesting a woman
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- Bill Cosby was convicted Thursday of drugging and molesting a woman in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era, completing the spectacular late-in-life downfall of a comedian who broke racial barriers in Hollywood on his way to TV superstardom as America's Dad.
Cosby, 80, could end up spending his final years in prison after a jury concluded he sexually violated Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004.
He stared straight ahead as the verdict was read but moments later lashed out loudly at District Attorney Kevin Steele after the prosecutor demanded Cosby be sent immediately to jail. Steele told the judge Cosby has an airplane and might flee.
Cosby angrily denied he has a plane and called Steele an "a--hole," shouting, "I'm sick of him!"
Judge Steven O'Neill decided Cosby can remain free on $1 million bail while he awaits sentencing but restricted him to Montgomery County, where his home is. No sentencing date was set.
Cosby waved to the crowd outside the courthouse, got into an SUV and left without saying anything. His lawyer Tom Mesereau declared "the fight is not over" and said he will appeal.
Shrieks erupted in the courtroom when the verdict was announced, and some of Cosby's accusers whimpered and cried. Constand remained stoic, then hugged her lawyer and members of the prosecution team.
"Justice has been done!" celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who represented some of Cosby's accusers, said on the courthouse steps. "We are so happy that finally we can say women are believed."
The jury of seven men and five women deliberated 14 hours over two days.
The verdict came after a two-week retrial in which prosecutors had more courtroom weapons at their disposal than they did the first time: They put five other women on the stand who testified that Cosby, married for 54 years, drugged and violated them, too.
At Cosby's first trial, which ended in a deadlocked jury less than a year ago, only one additional accuser was allowed to testify.
After the verdict, the district attorney became teary-eyed as he commended Constand for what he said was courage in coming forward. As Constand stood silently behind him in a bright white blazer, Steele apologized to her for a previous DA's decision in 2005 not to charge Cosby.
Steele said Cosby "was a man who had evaded this moment for far too long."
"He used his celebrity, he used his wealth, he used his network of supporters to help him conceal his crimes," the district attorney said. "Now, we really know today who was really behind that act, who the real Bill Cosby was."
Cosby could get up to 10 years in prison on each of the three counts of aggravated indecent assault. He is likely to get less than that under state sentencing guidelines, but given his age, even a modest term could mean he will die behind bars.
Constand, 45, a former Temple women's basketball administrator, told jurors that Cosby knocked her out with three blue pills he called "your friends" and then penetrated her with his fingers as she lay immobilized, unable to resist or say no. Cosby claimed the encounter was consensual said he gave her 1½ pills of the cold and allergy medicine Benadryl to help her relax.
It was the only criminal case to arise from a barrage of allegations from more than 60 women who said the former TV star drugged and molested them over a span of five decades. The onslaught all but destroyed his career and his good-guy image as wisdom-dispensing, sweater-wearing Dr. Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show."
The business fallout from the verdict was almost immediate: Bounce, a TV network that caters to black viewers, announced it would drop reruns of "The Cosby Show."
Cosby's retrial took place against the backdrop of #MeToo, the movement against sexual misconduct that has taken down powerful men in rapid succession, among them Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Kevin Spacey and Sen. Al Franken.
During closing arguments, Cosby's lawyers slammed #MeToo, calling Cosby its victim and likening it to a witch hunt or a lynching.
Cosby's new defense team, led by Mesereau, the celebrity attorney who won an acquittal for Michael Jackson on child-molestation charges, launched a highly aggressive attack on Constand, calling her a "con artist" and "pathological liar" who framed Cosby to get rich.
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