Bill Cosby, US actor and comedian, has been convicted of three counts of aggravated sexual assault.
A Pennsylvania jury on Thursday found the iconic comic guilty of drugging and sexually-violating Andrea Constand, his one-time mentee, in his home in 2004.
Although Cosby had claimed that the act was consensual, the jury found him guilty after 52 hours of deliberations.
Cosby, 80, may spend the next decade in prison as he faces up to 10 years imprisonment on each count, although the sentences could be served concurrently.
‘The Cosby Show’ actor is also expected to pay a fine of up to $25,000 on each count.
The verdict came after a two-week retrial during which prosecutors put five other women on the stand. The women testified that Cosby, married for 54 years, drugged and violated them.
The testimony of Constand, a former director of operations for the women’s basketball team at Temple University, where Cosby was a trustee, formed the core of the trial.
“This case is about trust,” Kevin Steele, Montgomery County district attorney, told jurors in his opening remarks.
“This case is about betrayal, and that betrayal leading to the sexual assault of a woman named Andrea Constand.”
