It was 2005 when Andrea Constand reported that a year earlier, when she was manager of the women’s basketball team at Temple University, she had been drugged and sexually assaulted by her mentor at the school — Bill Cosby.
Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against the comedian and television icon, citing insufficient evidence. It would take 13 years, two trials and an army of other accusers coming forward for Constand to be vindicated. On Tuesday, Cosby, 81, was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison by a Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, judge and led away in handcuffs, having been convicted of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and molesting Constand.
Why is this verdict so important?
Cosby is the first major celebrity imprisoned in the #MeToo era, in which sexual assault and harassment victims have been emboldened to come forward to hold powerful perpetrators to account. Such claims, when published in the media, have forced powerful politicians and businessmen to resign their posts and raised the expectations for schools and workplaces around the nation to prevent abuse.
Who else is in the news for this?
But proving those allegations in criminal court is another story, and Cosby’s conviction shows how difficult that remains.
The case isn’t the only sexual assault story dominating the headlines this week. The #MeToo movement is navigating its most unusual and partisan arena yet, as the United States Senate weighs how to evaluate allegations of sexual misconduct by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when he was a student in the 1980s.
What is the problem in convicting such alleged abusers?
Senators and media figures have argued over the appropriate standards to use in evaluating the truthfulness of one woman accusing Kavanaugh of attempting to rape her in high school and another accusing him of indecent exposure in college. Kavanaugh has strongly denied both allegations, and some of his Republican supporters have suggested the allegations have been concocted by Democrats for political reasons. Democrats, in turn, have accused Republicans of downplaying the allegations for political reasons.
Were Cosby and Kavanaugh treated with the same standard?
Kavanaugh critics who argue that the allegations should disqualify him from the Supreme Court have cited the #MeToo movement’s imperative to presume accusers are telling the truth, while Kavanaugh defenders have cited the criminal justice system’s presumption of innocence unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The distinction between the two standards matters a great deal, and Constand’s long journey to secure a conviction against Cosby illustrates why.
Is there something wrong with the criminal justice system?
The criminal justice system declined to prosecute her allegations against Cosby for more than a decade, until a wave of media reports revealed that at least 60 women had accused Cosby of sexual misconduct. The 2015 election of a new Montgomery County prosecutor, Kevin Steele, brought renewed interest in pursuing charges against Cosby, along with the revelation that Cosby had admitted in a deposition in a civil lawsuit that he had drugged women with Quaaludes to have sex with them. Cosby was arrested and charged later that year, shortly before the expiration of the statute of limitations.
Why is Cosby’s sentence regarded as exceptional?
A trial in 2017 ended with a hung jury, but in a second trial this year, multiple women were allowed to testify, making allegations that were similar to those by Constand. Cosby maintains his innocence, and his lawyers plan to appeal his conviction.
The criminal justice system’s standards are often hard to meet for sexual assault victims. Fewer than a third of sexual assault victims report it to the police, and fewer than 4 per cent of victims see their perpetrators convicted and imprisoned, according to statistics from the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, an advocacy group known by the acronym RAINN. Which would make Cosby’s sentence an extreme exception regardless of how long it took to achieve justice. “We are grateful that the court understood the seriousness of Cosby’s crime and sentenced him to prison,” RAINN said in a statement. “Let’s hope that the legacy of this case is that victims feel empowered to come forward, knowing that it can truly make a difference in bringing perpetrators to justice.”
Are there other accusers?
Some 60 other women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct, but charges have not been brought because of the statute of limitations. However, Cosby does face defamation lawsuits for branding his accusers liars. “I’m overwhelmed by the number of women who were willing to go through this process with us ... telling their stories of being drugged, assaulted or raped by Bill Cosby,” said District Attorney Steele.
— Los Angeles Times
Her story: Andrea Constand
In a lengthy statement on Tuesday telling her story, Andrea Constand described the 2004 drugging and assault and how all the strength and agility she possessed as a 30-year-old former professional basketball player melted away. “Instead of being able to run, jump and pretty much do anything I wanted physically, during the assault, I was paralysed and completely helpless,” she said. “I could not move my arms or legs. I couldn’t speak or remain conscious. I was completely vulnerable, and powerless to protect myself.”
She withdrew from her family and friends, stopped eating and was kept awake by nightmares. Today she is “a middle-aged woman who’s been stuck in a holding pattern for most of her adult life” because of her long-protracted pursuit of justice for what Cosby did to her, she said. Constand also described the heavy burden of needing to be believed. “The pressure was enormous,” she said. “I knew that how my testimony was perceived — that how I was perceived — would have an impact on every member of the jury and on the future mental and emotional well-being of every sexual assault victim who came before me. But I had to testify. It was the right thing to do, and I wanted to do the right thing, even if it was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.”
Who is Bill Cosby?
From America’s Dad to ‘sexually violent predator’
■ Born in 1937 in a housing project in Philadelphia to impoverished parents, the young William Henry Cosby Jr shone shoes and worked at a local supermarket to help his family make ends meet. His early life was touched by tragedy when one of his four brothers died and he, the eldest, became a father figure.
■ Accounts of his school years portray a joker and a storyteller who loved to entertain his classmates. After school, he joined the US Navy, then went to university and had a part-time job as a bartender. It was here that he found his way in to comedy, filling in for a club comedian and laying the path for his future fame.
■ His debut on NBC’s The Tonight Show in 1963 led to a recording contract with Warner Brothers, and the release of a series of award-winning comedy albums.
■ Beginning in the 1980s, Cosby produced and starred in the television sitcom The Cosby Show, which was rated as the No 1 show in America for 1984 through to 1989. The sitcom highlighted the experiences and growth of an affluent African-American family.
■ Cosby produced the spin-off sitcom A Different World and also starred in The Cosby Mysteries from 1994 to 1995, and in the sitcom Cosby, from 1996 to 2000.
■ His career and image were seriously damaged in the mid-2010s by many sexual assault accusations, the earliest of which date back decades.
■ Ahead of his sentencing for sexual assault this week, Cosby was declared a “sexually violent predator” under Pennsylvania law.
Timeline:
November 2002: Andrea Constand, who works for the Temple University women’s basketball team, meets Bill Cosby, a Temple alumnus and supporter, at one of the team’s games in Philadelphia.
January 2004: The month that Constand said Cosby assaulted her at his home after giving her wine and three pills that left her “frozen”.
January 2005: Constand, who has left Temple and moved back home to Toronto, tells her mother that Cosby assaulted her about a year earlier. They call him and contact the Canadian police. Three days later, Cosby returns the call, apologises, declines to identify the pills, but suggests the sex was consensual.
February 17: The Montgomery County district attorney at the time, Bruce L. Castor Jr., decides not to charge Cosby, citing “insufficient credible and admissible evidence”.
March 8: Constand sues Mr Cosby. Eventually a dozen women will agree to present testimony of similar behaviour on his part.
September 2005: In deposition testimony, Cosby admits to obtaining Quaaludes to give to young women for sex. Constand’s suit is later settled, and both sign a nondisclosure agreement.
October 2014: During a comedy routine, Hannibal Buress refers to Cosby as a rapist. A video of the moment goes viral, prompting many other women to come forward with accusations.
July 2015: A judge releases parts of Cosby’s deposition in the 2005 civil case. The criminal investigation is later reopened and detectives visit Toronto to interview Constand.
November 3, 2015: Montgomery County voters elect Kevin R. Steele as district attorney. He had criticised the 2005 decision not to prosecute Cosby.
December 30: Cosby is arrested on charges of aggravated indecent assault. Based on the timing described by Constand, the charges come just before the expiration of the 12-year statute of limitations for the charge.
June 17, 2017: Cosby’s first trial ends in a mistrial after jurors remain deadlocked following six days of deliberations.
April 9, 2018: The retrial begins. The judge allows five women to testify that Cosby assaulted them in ways similar to how Constand says she was attacked.
April 26: A jury found Mr Cosby guilty on three counts of assaulting Ms Constand: Penetration with lack of consent, penetration while unconscious and penetration after administering an intoxicant. These are felonies, each punishable by up to 10 years in state prison, though the sentences could be served concurrently.
September 25: A judge sentenced Cosby to three to 10 years in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting Constand 14 years ago.
