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Sexual Offenders Assessment Board Recommends Bill Cosby Be Classified A 'Sexually Violent Predator'
If a judge accepts the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board’s recommendation,Bill Cosby will have to undergo mandatory sex offender counseling for the rest of his life.
Fallen comedy superstar Bill Cosby may soon be classified as a sexually violent predator, if the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board’s recommendation is accepted by a judge.
According to the board’s private evaluation, Cosby should be classified as such, the Associated Press reports. The Montgomery County District Attorney's office — the same office that prosecuted Cosby — filed court documents on Tuesday requesting a hearing during which a judge will choose whether or not to accept the board’s recommendation, according to the AP. A date for the hearing has not yet been set.
“We will see them in court,” Andrew Wyatt, Cosby’s spokesman, told the Associated Press in response to the news.
The board’s confidential evaluation of Cosby examined 14 different criteria, says the Associated Press. According to Pennsylvania law, a sexually violent predator is a sex offender who has a “mental abnormality or personality disorder the makes the person likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses.”
Those classified as such will be required to register as a sex offender and undergo mandatory sex offender counseling with a treatment provider on a monthly basis at least for the rest of their lives, the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board website states. Local law enforcement will also notify the surrounding community of the offender’s name, address, and offense.
After being accused of sexual assault by more than 50 women, Cosby was found guilty in April of assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004 and later convicted of penetration with lack of consent, penetration while unconscious, and penetration after administering an intoxicant. Each count could bring up to 10 years in state prison, though they could be served concurrently.
According to Cosby’s attorney Thomas A. Mesereau Jr., they plan to appeal.
Cosby has since been placed on house arrest, complete with a GPS monitor, and is only permitted to leave his house when granted permission for medical treatment or to speak with his lawyers, CBS News reports. According to NBC News, Cosby will return to court for sentencing on September 24.
[Photo: Bill Cosby leaves the Montgomery County Courthouse after the first day of his retrial for sexual assault charges on April 9, 2018 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. By Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images]
