WS Chronicle

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Contributor

Bill Cosby arrived at the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, courthouse on Tuesday, Sept. 25, in a black SUV surrounded by his publicists and attorneys.

He left in a prison van, escorted by sheriff’s deputies.

His lawyers immediately filed a notice of appeal.

Judge Steven T. O’Neill sentenced the fallen comic to as many as 10 years in state prison. Cosby, 81, could be released after serving a minimum of three years.

“You have no right to it,” O’Neill told Cosby’s attorney Joe Green, when asked that his client remain free on bail pending appeal. “This is a serious crime,” said the judge, who earlier had designated Cosby a sexual violent predator.

That means he’ll have to undergo a lifetime of monthly counseling and report quarterly to authorities.

Because of the sexual violent predator designation, Cosby’s name also will appear on a sex-offender registry sent to neighbors, schools and victims.

Additionally, after having already paid the victim in the case, Andrea Constand, $3.4 million in a civil settlement, the sexually violent predator designation can also be used against him in several defamation lawsuits that are pending against him.

Prosecutors had asked for a five- to 10-year sentence.

Cosby’s spokesman Andrew Wyatt told reporters that the sentence continues the “lynching of a legacy.”

“This has been the most racist and sexist trial in the history of the United States,” Wyatt said. “Dr. Cosby has been one of the greatest civil rights leaders in the United States for over the last 50 years. He’s also been one of the greatest educators of men and boys over the past 50 years.

“This wasn’t pointed out in court to the jurors or allowed in because of the racist and sexist mass media was attacking and denouncing Dr. Cosby whenever his lawyers even hinted that racism and sexism was present.”