Changing Character, Cosby Loses His Cool After Verdict
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBSNewYork) - After weeks of showing calm confidence during his retrial on sexual assault charges, Bill Cosby was confronted by the worst possible outcome - and his demeanor reflected the shift in fate.
Prosecutor Kristen Feden said Cosby was "nothing like the image that he played on TV" as the "America's dad" Dr. Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show."
She called out Cosby for smirking during her final presentations to the jury.
"This is his con, and he's laughing like it's funny, but there's nothing funny about stripping a woman of her decency," Feden said. "There's nothing funny about that, Mr. Cosby."
Cosby was charged with violating Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. The guilty verdict on three charges came less than a year after another jury deadlocked.
At up to 10 years per guilty verdict, it's doubtful the 80-year-old comedians would survive past such a jail term.
When Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele asked to have Cosby's bail revoked because he has a plane, the actor then lashed out at the DA, slamming something down on the desk and uttering an expletive.
"He doesn't have a plane, you a******," Cosby yelled at Steele.
"One of the first times we heard from Bill Cosby was when he yelled at district attorney Kevin Steele," said KYW-TV's Joe Holden, a reporter who has been covering the trial from Philadelphia. "Kevin Steele was moving to have Bill Cosby's bail revoked, saying that the 10 percent of one million dollars was no where near adequate enough to keep who they are now deeming a sexual predator in this county."
At the opposite end of the spectrum, protesters and activists who spent every day during the trial supporting the victims cheered loudly and celebrated after the verdict came down.
"I'm so elated, this is a victory we've been waiting on for so long and I'm so glad that justice has been served," said protester Bird Milliken. "I think he's already in hell and he's been there for a hot minute, so however long it takes him to get jail that's OK because he's already doing his time."
Cosby's retrial took place against the backdrop of #MeToo, the movement against sexual misconduct that has taken down powerful men in rapid succession, among them Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Kevin Spacey and Sen. Al Franken.
During closing arguments, Cosby's lawyers slammed #MeToo, calling Cosby its victim and likening it to a witch hunt or a lynching.
Outside the courthouse after the verdict, attorney Gloria Allred thanked the jury for convicting Cosby.
"Justice has been done!" said Allred.
"We are so happy that finally we can say women are believed, and not only on #MeToo, but in a court of law where they were under oath, where they testified truthfully, where they were attacked, where they were smeared, where they were denigrated, where there were attempts to discredit them and after all is said and done, women were finally believed and we thank the jury so much for that," she said.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
