Bill Cosby Deemed ‘Sexually Violent Predator’ by Judge

A Pennsylvania judge has officially classified Bill Cosby as a “violent sexual predator” on Tuesday as a part of his sentencing, according to ABC News.

Cosby’s sentencing hearing is scheduled to wrap up on Tuesday in a courtroom in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Judge Steven O’Neill will reportedly settle on an appropriate punishment for the comedian, who has been found guilty of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand. Many other women testified in the case back in April, and in this week’s sentencing hearings as well, alleging that Cosby had drugged and then sexually assaulted them.

The mounting testimony was reportedly enough for O’Neill to identify Cosby as a “violent sexual predator” as he draws closer to an actual sentence. He still needs to consider the arguments of Cosby’s lawyers, however, who are hoping to keep him out of prison.

Cosby’s attorney, Joseph P. Green, wants to see the comedian put on either probation or house arrest, arguing that he is too old to go behind bars.

“Mr. Cosby is not dangerous,” he said. “81-year-old blind men who are not self-sufficient are not dangerous.”

Montgomery Count District Attorney Kevin Steele reportedly dismissed this argument out of hand on Monday. He asked Judge O’Neill to give Cosby the maximum sentence, saying that “‘he’s too old to go to prison’ is a get-out-of-jail-free card.”

“Nobody is above the law,” Steele added.

Green and the rest of Cosby’s attorneys are also hoping that O’Neill will agree to let Cosby stay on house arrest as they attempt to appeal his case, according to an earlier report by TMZ. This is a process that could take years, particularly if the lawyers were determined to draw it out.

Cosby was convicted of attacking Constand back in April, and has been on house arrest ever since as he awaited this sentencing hearing. Constand was the director of operations of women’s basketball at Temple University, Cosby’s alma mater, and she said that she once considered him a mentor.

The attack occurred at Cosby’s home near Philadelphia in 2004. Constand has said that all she wants is “justice as the court sees fit.” She summarized the effect Cosby has had on her life in a written statement to O’Neill this week.

“Bill Cosby took my beautiful, healthy young spirit and crushed it,” it read. “He robbed me of my health and vitality, my open nature, and my trust in myself and others.”