Bill Cosby was found guilty of sexual assault on Thursday in a stunning verdict that cemented the shocking fall of a comedian and actor once revered as “America’s Dad” for his wildly popular brand of family-friendly humor.
The Pennsylvania jury was just four hours into its second day of deliberations in the iconic “Cosby Show” star’s retrial when it handed down its decision to convict him of three counts felony aggravated indecent assault.
Now 80 years old and legally blind, Cosby is facing an effective death sentence of up to 30 years in prison.
The verdict was a vindication for the victim in the case, Andrea Constand, whom Cosby’s attorneys had tried to slime as a money-hungry schemer.
It was also a victory for some 60 other women — including models, aspiring actresses and casual acquaintances — who have accused Cosby of sexual assault and rape over decades.
“Justice has been done!” said attorney Gloria Allred, who has represented many of the women civilly. “We are so happy that finally we can say women are believed.”
Cosby showed no emotion and stared at the table in front of him as the jury forewoman read “guilty” to all three counts in the Montgomery County courtroom in Norristown.
Meanwhile, Constand, 45, sat stone-faced in the first row of the courtroom, letting it all sink in before breathing a sigh of relief.
She took a moment to hug Dolores Troiani, the lawyer who represented her in her civil lawsuit against Cosby and who took a damning deposition from the comedian in which he admitted to drugging women he wanted to sleep with.
Lili Bernard, one of Cosby’s dozens of accusers, burst into sobs as the verdict was announced, prompting Judge Steven O’Neill to call for order. Bernard was escorted out.
Constand, a former Temple University basketball administrator and native of Toronto, testified in disturbing detail how Cosby, whom she once considered a mentor, slipped her pills she believed were herbal at his home in Cheltenham, Pa., in January 2004.
Cosby was charged in December 2015 with sexually assaulting Constand, with the allegation filed days before Pennsylvania’s 12-year statute of limitations would have run out on the crime.
In testimony, Constand recalled that her mouth felt “cottony” and her legs “rubbery” after taking the pills and that she was helped by Cosby, then 67, to a couch before she slipped into darkness.
“I was kind of, um, jolted awake, and felt Mr. Cosby on the couch behind me, and my vagina was being penetrated quite forcefully,” she had testified at Cosby’s first trial last year — which ended with a hung jury in June after six days of deliberations.
This time around, her testimony was bolstered by five other Cosby accusers, who took the stand in what proved to be a turning point for prosecutors.
The witnesses, including supermodel Janice Dickinson, each testified that Cosby had plied them with pills before sexually assaulting them.
The comic — who did not testify — was allowed to remain free on $1 million bail pending his sentencing date and after a fight by prosecutors who had argued he was a flight risk. Cosby must surrender his passport and remain in Montgomery County.
A sentencing date is yet to be set, but Cosby will have to register as a sex offender and undergo assessments to determine how long he will be on that list.
After a brief blowup at prosecutors fighting his bail, a smiling Cosby shared a laugh with lead attorney Tom Mesereau in the courthouse. He later emerged from the building silent and showing no emotion as he let his lawyer speak for him.
“We don’t think Mr. Cosby is guilty of anything. The fight is not over,” Mesereau told reporters.
An enraged protester invoked Cosby’s days as a Jell-O Pudding pitchman, screaming, “I hope you choke to death on a Pudding Pop!”
With his publicist, Andrew Wyatt, by his side, Cosby then was assisted into a waiting black SUV and whisked away.
Mesereau vowed to appeal the conviction.
During the trial, the white-haired lawyer, who got Michael Jackson cleared of child-molestation charges, had tried to smear Constand as a money-grubbing “con artist” who took advantage of Cosby.
He also picked apart inconsistencies in Constand’s account of the assault.
In a boost to the defense, the judge allowed testimony from Marguerite Jackson, a Temple staffer who claimed Constand admitted she was going to make up the allegations against Cosby to “get money.”
Jackson was not allowed to testify at the first trial.
Constand won a $3.4 million settlement against Cosby in her civil suit — a fact that was also used against her at the retrial.
And Cosby’s lawyers tore into the other five accusers during closing arguments Tuesday.
“Is Ms. Dickinson really the moral beacon that the women’s movement wants? She’s a failed starlet, she’s an aged-out model,” lawyer Kathleen Bliss told jurors. “And it sounds as if she’s slept with every man on the planet.”
The trial, which began April 10, was peppered with ill-timed smirks from the actor, including when prosecutors slammed him as a serial sex predator.
“He’s laughing like it’s funny,” prosecutor Kristen Feden said, gesturing to Cosby as a grin slipped from his face. “There’s nothing funny about stripping a women of her capacity to consent.”
After the verdict, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele admitted he had been worried about what impact Team Cosby’s attacks on the accusers would have on the jury.
“I was concerned that people wouldn’t move past what they heard,” Steele said.
The DA was overcome with emotion as he recapped the two-week trial, saying Constand was “so inspiring to all of us.”
“Andrea Constand came into Norristown for justice,” he said with Constand standing nearby. “And that’s what 12 jurors provided her.
“What was revealed through this investigation was a man who spent decades preying on women,” Steele said.
“He used his celebrity. He used his wealth. He used his network of supporters. And now we know who the real Bill Cosby was.”
Constand, flanked by Troiani and lawyer Bibi Kivitz, looked stunned. She made no statement.
“She came here 14 years ago for justice. I am so happy that today I can say that justice was delayed but not denied,” Troiani said, as she and Constand hugged. “When something like this happens to someone — male, female — they have to work every day to be happy.”
“How calm she is, how graceful she is, that’s something she’s had to deal with since January 2004.”