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Bill Cosby Found Guilty of Sexual Assault

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Bill Cosby’s fall from iconic TV star became complete Thursday when a jury found him guilty of three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault.

Cosby, 80, was charged with violating Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. Cosby had claimed the encounter was consensual.

Cosby’s lawyers called Constand a “con artist” who leveled false accusations against Cosby so she could sue him.

During closing arguments Tuesday, special prosecutor Kristen Gibbons Feden used that claim against Cosby, telling the jury, “She is not the con. He is.”

Last year, another jury deadlocked on the same charges against Cosby, resulting in a mistrial.

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Cosby could get up to 10 years in prison on each of the counts. He also faces a fine of up to $25,000 on each county. His attorneys said they plan on appealing the verdict.

More than 50 women have accused Cosby of similar assaults against them over the years. None of those accusations ever resulted in charges against Cosby, often because the statute of limitations to allege a crime had elapsed.

Did you expect Bill Cosby would be convicted?

In this case, prosecutors were allowed to introduce testimony from five other women who told jurors they believed they had been drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby in separate incidents in the 1980s. In last year’s trial, only one other accuser was allowed to testify against Cosby.

The jury deliberated for two days before reaching its guilty verdict.

At one point, the jury asked to have testimony read back to them from the defense’s star witness, a former friend and colleague of Constant who said she talked of plans to frame “a high-profile person” in order to sue and make millions.

The jury also had testimony read back to them of a 2005 deposition by Cosby in which he admitted giving a woman drugs in order to have sex with her.

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According to The New York Post, Cosby showed no emotion and looked down at the table in front of him as the verdicts were read — which prompted some of his victims in the gallery to burst into tears.

The Associated Press reported Cosby lashed out at a prosecutor in an “expletive-laden tirade” in the courtroom after his conviction.

Cosby still faces civil suits from several accusers, some who claim he defamed them by calling them liars who fabricated their allegations.

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Scott Kelnhofer is a writer for The Western Journal and Conservative Tribune. A native of Milwaukee, he currently resides in Phoenix.
Scott Kelnhofer is a writer for The Western Journal and Conservative Tribune. He has more than 20 years of experience in print and broadcast journalism. A native of Milwaukee, he has resided in Phoenix since 2012.
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Media, Sports, Business Trends




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