Disgraced comedian Bill Cosby has settled defamation claims brought by seven women who claimed he sexually assaulted them.
The women sued because Cosby said they were lying about their allegations. He sued back, and the counterclaims are still pending.
Dozens of women have claimed Cosby sexually assaulted them, but most claims would’ve been outside the statute of limitations in their respective jurisdictions. Only one case has been adjudicated. Former Temple University employee Andrea Constand said that he drugged her at his home in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and sexually assaulted her.
The case yielded a mistral because of a hung jury. A second trial resulted in Cosby getting convicted. This 81-year-old was sentenced last September to 3 to 10 years in prison, and to registered as a sex offender.
Cosby is appealing the case. His attorneys argued that the trial judge made serious errors. They said the typical sentence is two to three years, that the state agreed in 2005 not to prosecute him, complained that prosecution used deposition video of Cosby from Constand’s lawsuit against him, and that five women who accused him of sexual assault were able to testify at the criminal trial.
[Image via Montgomery County Correctional Facility via Getty Images]