Shortly after Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison for sexual assault and taken away in handcuffs, his spokesperson Andrew Wyatt told reporters that Cosby — along with embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh — was the victim of a “sex war.” 
 
 “What is going on in Washington today with Judge Kavanaugh is part of that sex war that Judge [Steven] O’Neill and his wife are a part of,” Wyatt said, referring to the judge who oversaw Cosby’s trial. 
 
 Wyatt also called Cosby’s trial that resulted in a conviction “the most racist and sexist trial in the history of the United States,” saying that Cosby was “one of the greatest civil rights leaders” and a “great educator of men and boys.” He also criticized the psychologists who testified against Cosby, and claimed that audio footage of Cosby played in the courtroom was falsified. 
 
 In a particularly bizarre moment, Wyatt referenced the persecution of Jesus while talking about Cosby. “They persecuted Jesus and look what happened,” he said, according to CNN. “Not saying Mr. Cosby’s Jesus, but we know what this country has done to black men for centuries.” 
 
 Bill Cosby's publicist, Andrew Wyatt, claims both Cosby and Brett Kavanaugh are victims of "a sex war" that is "going on in Washington today." pic.twitter.com/jRHOjzUZD7 — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 25, 2018 
 
 Wyatt has repeatedly argued that racism played a role in Cosby’s conviction in not-so-subtle terms, calling the April trial a “public lynching.” Other members of Cosby’s team have invoked Emmett Till, a black boy murdered after a white woman falsely accused him of whistling at her. 
 
 But it was the first time that Cosby’s team has made a connection to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh’s nomination has been embroiled in controversy after two women accused him of sexual assault and misconduct in incidents dating back to the 1980s. Christine Blasey Ford came forward earlier this month to accuse him of attempted rape during a high school party in the ’80s. She is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday. 
 
 On Sunday, a second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, stepped forward with her own story of sexual misconduct on Sunday, saying that Kavanaugh had exposed himself to her at a college party. Both accusers have called for the FBI to investigate their claims before a vote on Kavanaugh takes place, but contrary to Wyatt’s claims, there’s a strong chance Kavanaugh could be confirmed anyway. ||||| NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Bill Cosby was sentenced on Tuesday afternoon to three to 10 years in state prison for sexually assaulting a woman at his Philadelphia home back in 2004 — the final step in his downward spiral from America’s Dad to convicted felon. 
 
 Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neill denied Cosby’s request for bail pending his appeal. Cosby took off his suit jacket, watch, and tie in the courtroom as two deputy sheriffs handcuffed him and transported him to county jail. 
 
 He will then will be transferred to a state facility, where he will be evaluated, and sent to a state prison — probably one in a rural part of Pennsylvania for old and infirm inmates. 
 
 Cosby showed no visible reaction to the sentence, which was close to the maximum that could be imposed. He remained seated in the courtroom, chatting quietly with his lawyers and two friends during a recess. 
 
 Under Pennsylvania law, Cosby will have to serve the full minimum of three years before he can be eligible for parole. The maximum possible sentence was five to 10 years behind bars. 
 
 “This is a serious crime,” said O’Neill, who rejected the defense request for house arrest, partial confinement, and even a chance to serve the sentence in the county jail as opposed to state prison. 
 
 O’Neill said he gave substantial weight to the impact of the sexual assault on victim Andrea Constand, who was seated in the courtroom when the sentence was announced. “I put a high degree of weight on the impact of the crime on the victim and her family,” said O’Neill. 
 
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 Cosby’s publicist, Andrew Wyatt, denounced the outcome in a statement outside court. 
 
 “This has been the most racist and sexist trial in the history of the United States,” he said, laying the blame at the feet of “white women who make money off of accusing black men of being sexual predators.” 
 
 “They persecuted Jesus and look what happened,” Wyatt added. “Mr. Cosby is fine. He’s holding up well. Anyone who wants to say anything negative, you’re a joke as well.” 
 
 Cosby’s wife Camille, through a spokeswoman, issued a statement blasting the prosecutors for using “falsified evidence.” 
 
 At a news conference, District Attorney Kevin Steele said Cosby is no Cliff Huxtable (his “Cosby Show” character), but rather someone who used his acting skills to prey on women. Justice, he said, has finally been served with the prison term. “It’s been a long time coming,” said Steele. 
 
 Steele credited Constand for reporting the attack to police and testifying. 
 
 “This assault changed her life,” said Steele as Constand stood nearby. “She’s been a rock. She’s done the right thing.” 
 
 Steele said it was no “cause for celebration” for Cosby to be led off in handcuffs. “We take very seriously the taking of somebody’s liberty,” but, he went on, “Our job is to separate the predators from the good people of our community, and that happened today.” 
 
 Among the women who accused Cosby of assault, the sentence was accepted with a mix of emotions, though mostly relief. There was a former supermodel, an ex-Playboy bunny, and the former wife of Alan Ladd. Several of the women who testified at trial, to show a pattern of similar conduct by Cosby, were also there. 
 
 “We’re just thrilled to death,” said Victoria Valentino, a former Playboy bunny who attended both trials. “It’s just a matter of having that final curtain call so we can have some real serious feelings of closure.” 
 
 Former entertainment executive Cindra Ladd, now 70, said she has been dealing with the emotions of having been sexually assaulted since approximately 1969. She added that she was grateful to O’Neill for “making sure justice was served.” 
 
 “I really wanted to be here, especially with some of my other survivor sisters,” Ladd, who used to be married to producer Alan Ladd, said. “It was important for me to see him.” 
 
 Earlier in the day, O’Neill declared the former TV star a “sexually violent predator.” The designation means that Cosby, who is legally blind, will be subject to a lifetime of reporting requirements, meaning he will have to advise law enforcement authorities of where he is residing. 
 
 Steele asked O’Neill to impose the maximum sentence of five to 10 years in state prison, and to reject defense arguments that Cosby should be allowed to serve any sentence under house arrest. 
 
 “This should be a state prison sentence,” said Steele. 
 
 Green rejected the prosecution’s contention that Cosby should be considered dangerous, saying he couldn’t recall any instance in which an 81-year-old, blind defendant had been sent to state prison. 
 
 Cosby was found guilty in April of molesting Constand, who had been operations manager of the women’s basketball team at Temple University, where Cosby had been a major supporter and donor. 
 
 It was the first sentencing of a celebrity in the passionate atmosphere of the #MeToo movement, and the case provided a backdrop not just for Constand’s allegation, but for some of the dozens of other women who accused Cosby of assaulting them, and faithfully attended the court proceedings. 
 
 But only Constand’s allegation was the focus of a criminal trial, and she was in court for the sentencing, telling O’Neill she was asking only for “justice as the court sees fit.” 
 
 Constand, who is now a massage therapist in Canada, testified during the trial in April and in an earlier trial last year that ended with a hung jury, that she had become friends with Cosby, and viewed him as a mentor. 
 
 She testified that she took three blue pills Cosby offered her during a visit to his home outside Philadelphia in early 2004 because she trusted Cosby and believed they were some kind of an herbal relaxant. But then, she testified, she soon became incapacitated and felt his fingers inside of her, but “couldn’t fight him off.” ||||| Bill Cosby arrives for his sentencing hearing at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018, in Norristown, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) (Associated Press) 
 
 Bill Cosby arrives for his sentencing hearing at the Montgomery County Courthouse, Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018, in Norristown, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) (Associated Press) 
 
 NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — His Hollywood career and good-guy image in ruins, Bill Cosby was led away to prison in handcuffs Tuesday at age 81 for perhaps the rest of his days, sentenced to three to 10 years behind bars for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his gated estate. 
 
 The punishment made him the first celebrity of the #MeToo era to be sent to prison and completed the dizzying, late-in-life fall from grace for the comedian, TV star and breaker of racial barriers. 
 
 "It is time for justice. Mr. Cosby, this has all circled back to you. The time has come," Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill said. He quoted from victim Andrea Constand's statement to the court, in which she said Cosby took her "beautiful, young spirit and crushed it." 
 
 Cosby declined the opportunity to speak before the sentence came down, and afterward sat laughing and chatting with his defense team. His wife of 54 years, Camille, was not in court. Constand smiled broadly upon hearing the punishment and was hugged by others in the courtroom. 
 
 In a blistering statement, Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt said the comic was subjected to "most racist and sexist trial in the history of the United States." 
 
 Among other things, Wyatt said all three of the psychologists who testified against Cosby were "white women who make money off of accusing black men of being sexual predators," and he accused prosecutors of using a doctored recording of a telephone conversation between Constand's mother and Cosby. 
 
 Cosby's lawyers asked that he be allowed to remain free on bail while he appeals his conviction, but the judge appeared incredulous over the request and ordered him locked up immediately, saying that "he could quite possibly be a danger to the community." 
 
 The comedian — who is legally blind and uses a cane — removed his watch, tie and jacket and walked out in a white dress shirt and red suspenders, his hands cuffed in front of him. He must serve the minimum of three years before becoming eligible for parole. 
 
 "For decades, the defendant has been able to hide his true self and hide his crimes using his fame and fortune. He's hidden behind a character created, Dr. Cliff Huxtable," Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said at a news conference, referring to Cosby's best-known role. But "now, finally, Bill Cosby has been unmasked, and we have seen the real man as he is headed off to prison." 
 
 Constand stood at Steele's side but shook her head to say she had no comment. 
 
 Former model Janice Dickinson, who was among the 60 or so women who have come forward to accuse Cosby of drugging and violating them over the past five decades, looked at him in the courtroom and said: "Here's the last laugh, pal." 
 
 Another accuser in the courtroom, Lili Bernard, said: "There is solace, absolutely. It is his fame and his fortune and his phony philanthropy that has allowed him to get away with impunity. Maybe this will send a message to other powerful perpetrators that they will be caught and punished." 
 
 The punishment, which also included a $25,000 fine, came at the end of a two-day hearing at which the judge declared Cosby a "sexually violent predator" — a modern-day scarlet letter that subjects him to monthly counseling for the rest of his life and requires that neighbors and schools be notified of his whereabouts. 
 
 The comic once known as America's Dad for his role on the top-rated "Cosby Show" in the 1980s was convicted in April of violating Constand, Temple University women's basketball administrator, at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004. It was the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era. 
 
 Constand testified that Cosby gave her what she thought were herbal pills to ease stress, then penetrated her with his fingers as she lay immobilized on a couch. Cosby claimed the encounter was consensual, and his lawyers branded her a "con artist" who framed the comedian to get a big payday — a $3.4 million settlement she received over a decade ago. 
 
 Five other accusers took the stand at the trial as part of an effort by prosecutors to portray him as a predator. 
 
 Cosby faced anywhere from probation to 10 years in prison. His lawyers asked for house arrest, saying Cosby is too old and vulnerable to do time in prison. Prosecutors asked for five to 10 years behind bars, saying he could still pose a threat to women. 
 
 The sentencing came as another extraordinary #MeToo drama unfolded on Capitol Hill, where Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh stands accused of sexual misconduct more than three decades ago. 
 
 Sonia Ossorio, president of the National Organization for Women of New York, credited Cosby's accusers with helping pave the way for the #MeToo movement. 
 
 "Bill Cosby seeing the inside of a prison cell sends a strong message that predators — no matter who they are, from Hollywood to Wall Street to the Supreme Court — can no longer be protected at the expense of victims," she said. 
 
 The judge ruled on Cosby's "sexually violent predator" status after a psychologist for the state testified that the entertainer appears to have a mental disorder that gives him an uncontrollable urge to have sex with women without their consent. 
 
 Steele said Cosby could be sent to Laurel Highlands, a state prison for lower-risk inmates on the other side of the state, about 70 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. It serves inmates with special needs and has separate housing units for geriatric prisoners and programs for sex offenders. 
 
 In a statement submitted to the court and released Tuesday, Constand, 45, said that she has had to cope with years of anxiety and self-doubt. She said she now lives alone with her two dogs and has trouble trusting people. 
 
 "When the sexual assault happened, I was a young woman brimming with confidence and looking forward to a future bright with possibilities," she wrote in her five-page statement. "Now, almost 15 years later, I'm a middle-aged woman who's been stuck in a holding pattern for most of her adult life, unable to heal fully or to move forward." 
 
 She also wrote of Cosby: "We may never know the full extent of his double life as a sexual predator, but his decades-long reign of terror as a serial rapist is over." 
 
 The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, which Constand and other accusers have done. 
 
 Constand went to police a year after waking up in a fog at Cosby's estate, her clothes askew, only to have the district attorney pass on the case. Another DA reopened the file a decade later and charged the TV star after stand-up comic Hannibal Buress' riff about Cosby being a rapist prompted other women to come forward and after a federal judge, acting on a request from The Associated Press, unsealed some of Cosby's startling, decade-old testimony in Constand's related civil suit. 
 
 In his testimony, Cosby described sexual encounters with a string of actresses, models and other young women and talked about obtaining quaaludes to give to those he wanted to sleep with. 
 
 Cosby's first trial in 2017 ended with a hung jury. He was convicted at a retrial that opened months after the #MeToo movement had taken down such figures as Hollywood studio boss Harvey Weinstein, NBC's Matt Lauer, actor Kevin Spacey and Sen. Al Franken. 
 
 Cosby, whose estimated fortune once topped $400 million, broke barriers in the 1960s as the first black actor to star in a network show, "I Spy." He went on to superstardom as wise and understanding Dr. Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show," a sitcom that showed America a new kind of black TV family: a warm and loving household led by two professionals, one a lawyer, the other a doctor. 
 
 He also found success with his Saturday morning cartoon "Fat Albert," appeared in commercials for Jello-O pudding and became a public moralist, lecturing the black community about young people stealing things and wearing baggy pants. He won a Presidential Medal of Freedom and countless Emmys, Golden Globes and Grammy awards. 
 
 As the allegations mounted, his career all but collapsed, "Cosby Show" reruns were taken off the air, and one college after another stripped him of his honorary degrees. 
 
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 Associated Press writer Claudia Lauer contributed to this report. 
 
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 For more coverage, visit: https://apnews.com/tag/BillCosby
– Bill Cosby was labeled a "violent sexual predator" by the judge who sentenced him to three to 10 years in prison on Tuesday, but his publicist had a different description: one of the "greatest civil rights leaders" in history and one of the "greatest educators of men and boys." Outside the courtroom in Norristown, Pa., publicist Andrew Wyatt claimed the 81-year-old Cosby had faced the "most racist and sexist trial" in American history, the New York Times reports. Wyatt claimed that three psychologists who testified against Cosby in the sexual assault trial were trying to "make money off of accusing black men of being sexual predators." He also read a statement from Camille Cosby, the disgraced entertainer's wife, alleging that an audio recording played in the trial had been doctored. Wyatt, who previously called Cosby's trial a "public lynching," accused Judge Steven O'Neill of being part of a "sex war" and linked the sentencing to the treatment of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Vox reports that the strangest moment came when Wyatt likened his client to Jesus. "They persecuted Jesus, and look what happened," he said. "Not saying Mr. Cosby is Jesus, but we know what this country has done to black men for centuries." Cosby, who left the Montgomery County Courthouse in handcuffs, spent his first night behind bars at SCI Phoenix, a state prison that opened two months ago in suburban Philadelphia, reports WPVI. (Cosby's mug shot was released Tuesday afternoon.)