November 26, 2024
Judge orders house arrest for Bill Cosby
Cosby could now end up spending the rest of his life behind bars when he is sentenced.
A judge has confined Bill Cosby to his home until the comedian is sentenced after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman.
Clarifying the terms of the disgraced star’s $1m bail, Judge Steven O’Neill said Cosby can travel only within the greater Philadelphia area, and solely for medical treatment or to meet his legal team upon written request.
He must also wear a GPS ankle monitoring device.
The order comes a day after Cosby was convicted of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia mansion in January 2004.
The 80-year-old TV star, known to millions as America’s Dad, was convicted of three counts of indecent assault and could get up to 10 years in prison on each charge.
Cosby’s legal team has blasted his trial as a “public lynching” and said it has begun looking ahead to an appeal.
An appeal would be likely to focus on the trial judge’s decision to let a parade of women testify that they, too, were abused by the former TV star.
Defence allegations of a biased juror and the admission of Cosby’s explosive testimony about drugs and sex are among other possible avenues of appeal as he tries to avoid a sentence that could keep him in prison for the rest of his days.
Meanwhile, Temple University has rescinded an honorary doctorate it had awarded to Cosby, a longtime fundraiser and graduate of the Philadelphia school.
Cosby was a Temple trustee when he first met Ms Constand, who was an administrator of the Temple women’s basketball team.
Temple is among several US universities that have taken back honorary degrees since Cosby’s guilty verdict, reflecting a broader reappraisal of Cosby’s place in American culture. –news.sky.com
