Bill Cosby, who long dodged accusations he had preyed on women while appearing on television as a beloved father figure, left a Pennsylvania courtroom in handcuffs on Tuesday after getting a three-to-10 year prison term for sexually assaulting a woman in his home. The sentence culminated Cosby’s stunning fall from a towering figure in popular culture to an 81-year-old convicted sex offender, the New York Times reports. “It is time for justice,” said. Judge Steven O’Neill. “Mr. Cosby, this has all circled back to you. The day has come. The time has come.” Acknowledging the impact on Cosby’s legacy, O’Neill added: “Fallen angels suffer most.” Cosby, who will appeal the conviction, was denied bail and ordered to prison immediately.
The actor and comedian was found guilty in April of drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee to whom he had been a mentor. It was the first high-profile conviction since the #MeToo movement put a spotlight on women’s stories of abuse, and represented a symbolic victory for the many others who said they were victimized by Cosby over the years. In a victim impact statement, Constand said of Cosby: “We may never know the full extent of his double life as a sexual predator, but his decades-long reign of terror as a serial rapist is over.” A Cosby publicist, Andrew Wyatt, called the case “the most racist and sexist trial in the history of the United States.” He cited a “sex war” in the U.S., tying Cosby’s fate to that of the Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, the latest prominent man to face accusations of sexual misconduct on a public stage.