Bill Cosby off to prison ... Disgraced actor must serve three years before being parole eligible

NORRISTOWN, Pennsylvania (AP):

His Hollywood career and good-guy image in ruins, Bill Cosby was led away to prison in handcuffs yesterday at age 81 for perhaps the rest of his days, sentenced to three to 10 years behind bars for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his gated estate.

The punishment made him the first celebrity of the #MeToo era to be sent to prison and all but completed the dizzying, late-in-life fall from grace for the comedian, TV star and breaker of racial barriers.

Cosby declined the opportunity to speak before the sentence came down, and afterwards sat laughing and chatting with his defence team.

His wife of 54 years, Camille, was not in court. Constand smiled broadly upon hearing the punishment and was hugged by others in the courtroom.

In a blistering statement, Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt said the comic was subjected to "most racist and sexist trial in the history of the United States".

Among other things, Wyatt said all three of the psychologists who testified against Cosby were "white women who make money off of accusing black men of being sexual predator,s" and he accused prosecutors of using a doctored recording of a telephone conversation between Constand's mother and Cosby.

Cosby's lawyers asked that he be allowed to remain free on bail while he appeals his conviction, but the judge appeared incredulous over the request and ordered him locked up immediately, saying that "he could quite possibly be a danger to the community."

The comedian who is legally blind and uses a cane removed his watch, tie and jacket and walked out in a white dress shirt and red suspenders, his hands cuffed in front of him. He must serve the minimum of three years before becoming eligible for parole.

Cosby Timeline

• 2004 January: Cosby drugs and assaults Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home, according to her testimony.

• 2006 November: Cosby settles the case for nearly $3.4 million after giving four days of deposition testimony about his affairs with young women over a span of 50 years.

• 2015 August: Montgomery County authorities reopen the 2005 criminal case.

n 2015 December 30: Cosby is arrested, enters a not-guilty plea and is released on $1 million bail.

• 2017 June 17: After more than 52 hours of deliberations over six days at his first trial, jurors report they are deadlocked, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial.

n 2018 April 9: Cosby's retrial begins.

• 2018 April 26: Cosby is convicted on three charges of aggravated indecent assault.