Its been forever. So whether or not the victims feel that this was a just sentence is as important to us as reporting what the sentence the. Well stay on that. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. Nobody is above the law. Thats a pennsylvania judge said to bill cosby before sentencing him to at least three years and as many as ten years for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand. He will be forced to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. I want to get to the suburban philadelphia courthouse where the sentence was handed down. Ron allen is there for us. A lot going on, ron. We were just hearing sort of an impromptu press conference in the rain. Whats happening now . Well we were just talking to see if we can get an interview for you. Yes. Its a crazy scene out here. A lot of emotion. Its a driving rainstorm. It adds to the craziness of this moment. But its a joyful moment as well for a lot of the women who have accused bill cosby over the years. They have been here day in and day out for the first trial that ended in a hung jury, the second trial in convictions and now for the sentencing. Theyve held press conferences. Some of them have said they wish he got 30 years. That was the maximum sentence possible before the judge consolidated all three felonies. There seems to be a feeling of relief and closure. This is the only criminal case that can be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations. There are a number of activists around the country trying to change the laws so theres not as one person put it, as many have, an arbitrary deadline for the prosecution of these kinds of cases. We expect to hear also from the d. A. , the prosecutor, kevin steel and his team who will also, im sure, be relieved. They have been going after cosby for a very, very long time now. And they got their conviction. They were pushing for a maximum sentence of ten years, and they got that. Again, a lot going on here. You go ahead. Ron, you do what you need to do. If you need to talk to somebody, well make space for that. So if theres anybody around you at any point while youre talking to me, go ahead and deal with that. Well be right back. Thank you. Good. Ron allen for us at norristown. This is a complicated issue. A lot of things to discuss about this sentencing. I want to take a closer look at this with erik degens, npr tv critic and msnbc media analyst. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me. The maximum, some of the women who ron was just referring to were asking for or hoped cosby would get 30 years. The prosecution sort of estimated four to ten years which is within pennsylvania guidelines. They wanted ten years. This is three to ten years. I think it was obvious that judge that bill cosby not walking out of that court not being in custody would have been an issue. What do you make of this . It seems as if the jung tried to give bill cosby as much time as he could give him, given some of the other aspects of this case. His age. The fact that this was technically his first conviction. And frankly, this level of time and the fact that hell be serving it in prison was the important part. And i think for a lot of people who have always admired bill cosby and perhaps been distracted or you know, affected by his celebrity, i think we needed to see the criminal Justice System deliver a definitive decision on his guilt. And weve had that. Weve had that in the conviction and weve now had that in a substantial sentence for this crime. It may not have been what some of the victims wanted, but it is not a slap on the wrist. Especially for someone who is as old as he is. This is a key thing you hit on. For those distracted or affected by his celebrity, right . This was the whole issue around this case far long time. It wasnt just a series of Sexual Assaults. It was the question of in america, can Sexual Assaults committed by somebody who is as famous and historically beloved as bill cosby, can we litigate these things . And thats a big question in the me too movement. I think this case was a coming together of a lot of different issues, and weve seen it in the way that we have had to process it. First theres this idea of what happens when a woman steps forward and tells a story about being sexually assaulted by anyone, let alone one of the most beloved celebrities in show business before this. When essentially its something that happened between two people, how do you prove to the wider world that what youre saying has validity . And i think that was the long struggle in getting this prosecuted in the first place was being able to present a case that would be convincing in a court of law. And then you also have the fact that you dont just have someone who is a celebrity in bill cosby. You have someone who was a pioneer for black people in television and movies and standup comedy. Someone who broke a great many barriers. You know, one of the first black people to win a prime time emmy award for dramatic acting. Someone whose career was always used as an example of the best that someone could achieve. And yet, these allegations that he had a dark, twisted side to his life, that people didnt know about. And so to bring all that together in one case, to force us to come to grips with something that a celebrity did that was terrible, and also force us to come to grips with how we treat women when they come forward with credible stories about Sexual Assault, all of this came together on that particular note, stand by for one second. I want to go back to norristown, the courthouse. Speaking about giving voice to women, ron allen is back with us. Ron . Reporter im with some of the original cosby accusers as weve come to call them. Women who have filed claims and were jane does in the original cases against cosby and their lawyer. What are you feeling at this moment about what happened . Well, the judge heard the evidence. The jury heard the evidence, and they made a decision to vote him guilty, guilty, guilty, and justice was served for Andrea Constand, and im in support of justice being served. And the sentence that was dealt to mr. Cosby was he was sentenced equally as should be under the law. Youre satisfied . Yes, i am. Reporter does this bring a sense of finality . Yes, it does. Reporter what about you, tamara . Yes. I find it surprisingly emotional. Its been 14 years for me from when andrea first tried to file her case and was turned down, and so i had to pursue a civil case against him because bruce caster wouldnt file the case against cosby. And now weve but he understands today. Reporter what are your thoughts at this point . Three to ten years . I think that was a perfect sentence. The judge has sounded the right tone. He said this was a serious offense. He had to take into account and balance the impact that it had on Andrea Constand and her family and the impact on the community. He recognized that despite the fact that this was a man of great wealth and philanthropy and power and prestige that he had to be treated equally before the bar of justice, and equal footing meant that he had to be have a serious, significant sentence for a serious offense. Reporter so this is not the end of it. There are still so many other women who have allegations against bill cosby that we know will come to triem. There are defamation cases. Where do we go now . What would you like to see happen . I would like to see our civil case, i represent these two ladies and five other women who sued mr. Cosby for defamation. They came out publicly and told their story of abuse and assault by mr. Cosby, and then they were branded liars. We filed the lawsuits pending in federal court in massachusetts to restore their good name and reputation. The case has been put on hold pending the outcome of the criminal case. The time is now to get our case started anew and to restore the good name and reputation of my clients. Are you more hopeful your case will go forward and youll receiver a measure of justice . I always was hopeful, and yes, i am. Im happy that its going to move forward. Because its very difficult to be in a position where youre stuck and you cant get out of it. As in a feeling of helplessness. Were moving forward and hopefully ill get peace someday and get my good name restores. What is it like to take on someone like bill cosby . Theres been a lot of discussion about Andrea Constand not coming forward for a long time. How women feel like they did something wrong and they feel ashamed. Whats it like to take on someone like him . Well, some of us were from a long time ago, 40 years ago, and thats a different world back then, and you didnt really have a voice, and so now were able to speak out, and its a feeling of empowerment. It took a very long time as tamara said. We were involved in trying to get our voice heard for 14 years along with andrea, and were finally at a place where we can be heard, and it feels very good to know that somebody does care. Thanks very much. I appreciate you guys. Congratulations, i guess, are in order if thats the appropriate word. Its not a day for celebration. Its a day that it seems like a terrible shame that it should have ever happened at all. Reporter i hear you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Reporter we have gloria alred with us also. You have a number of your clients as well. Yes. Yes. Im here with my clients, two very, very brave women who also were prior bad act witnesses who had the courage to testify in the second criminal case as prior bad act witnesses. They are here today to see mr. Cosby receive the consequences that he should have. Reporter what was it like when you saw him finally be sent to jail . Happy. I was very, very happy with the results. Yeah. Very. Reporter you think three to ten years is enough . Its better than nothing. Hes going to have to have time to think about what he did to andrea and the rest of us women. Reporter what about you . Did you think this day would ever come . Not at the beginning, i didnt. When everyone told me that the statute of limitations stopped you from doing anything, so i didnt. This is a real surprise and a welcome surprise, and i cant youre surprised . Im surprised that it followed through. That it got to follow through. Reporter are you surprised he was convicted or going to prison . I was a little surprised about both initially, but i did everything i could to fight for this and support andreas case and support every woman and everyone who has had to deal with these situations. And shes told her truth in a court of law. She was under oath. She was cross examined. It was vigorous. It was brutal, and she not only survived it but she came back. And she came back with her truth, and so the court has sentenced him. Mr. Cosby. Well, classified him as a sexually violent predator. In addition to that hes sentenced him to a minimum of three years before he can get even before the parol board. Thats important. The court said he has to consider the protection of the public. He thinks it would be an undue risk to release mr. Cosby on probation. And considering the gravity of the offense and the impact on andrea and her family, this was the appropriate sentence. Reporter how big this has been described as the first significant conviction of the me too era. It is. Reporter how big a turning point or milestone or plateau or moment do you think it is in that context . I think its really important that women, many women who have broken their silence and spoken out on mo metoo, but also extremely important that Sexual Assaults are reported to Law Enforcement and that Law Enforcement take those reported drugging and Sexual Assaults seriously, and have the confidence in fact victim if its appropriate and theres evidence to support the allegations to proceed to prosecute. Thats what happened here. It was within the statute of limitations. This has been a long journey to justice. And finally, judgment day is here for mr. Cosby. You have a big smile on your face. Its been a long day. Reporter how big a day do you think this is in the grand scheme of things where women are in trying to find justice in these sort of situations . I think its beautiful, because so many women are starting to stand up. I like to think its because of us standing up and helping bring a broader eye to whats going on and say hey, dont be quiet. There are people that will help you like miss alred. And i mighted a they did this before metoo. This is for years they began speaking up long before that. And this is the result. And so im very proud of them and also my other client, stacey for example. Shes never told what she alleges happened. Her truth. To anyone but Law Enforcement and me. So but today, later on today shes going to explain what she says reporter how are you feeling today about this day . Liberated. Reporter liberated . Yes. Liberated. There is justice. Reporter and you must be optimistic about your own case Going Forward . You think this changes a lot . For my face theres a statute of limitations. She doesnt have a case that can be prosecuted. I do have a civil case. Reporter but i understand there are efforts to change the statute of limitations. There are, and we did it in nevada, colorado and we completely eliminated it for rape and Sexual Assault in california. Theres efforts to do this in other states like pennsylvania. But what i want to say is this is really important. Its important that the criminal Justice System has finally worked on behalf of a victim, and that womens words mattered and were valued. Reporter let me ask one last question. Because your case cant be prosecuted, does this give you some sense of closure . How do you feel about that having watch third down case come to a conclusion knowing you cant have the same level or type of justice . I still feel great. Coming here, traveling all the way from europe for this sentencing gives me closure. With the help of the district attorney, all of the prior bad act witnesses, our attorney, its been it gives you closure. It is what you need. And everyone who has had Something Like this happen to them need to go forward. And stacey was on the list of prior bad act witnesses. She was willing to testify but the Court Limited how many could be called, but the prosecution wanted her to be able to testify but was not able to call her. Reporter thank you all very much. I really appreciate it. Thank you for taking the time. Bill cosby is not a celebrity anymore. He is a sexually violent predator. He hasnt been a celebrity for a long time. Thank you. Ron, stay right there. Were now watching. This is the car in which bill cosby is in. This front car youre looking at. Hes just been put into that car by Law Enforcement. That is a police vehicle. There he is. He is on his way to encars ration for a minimum of three years and a maximum of ten years. Ron, what a remarkable set of discussions you just had. I was just trying to keep up keeping notes on the idea of closure. There is justice. Satisfaction. The mixed emotion. Some celebrating and others saying its just still too sad. Its very emotional, ali. Its hard to kind of convey that to you, perhaps, and they certainly did it better than i can. Just remember who bill cosby was. He was one of the most famous celebrities in the country. The cosby show was the hit number one show for so many years. He broke down so many barriers for African American entertainers and actors. He was a huge philanthropist and donor to so many colleges and universities around the country, and other causes. And all those good works are hard to think about now given the trail of destruction, if you will, thats been left behind. Its really not destruction. It is but its not. And i say its not because when you talk to these women, they are remaining strong. They find power in this. They find power in seeing one of their sisters get some measure of justice. So its not destruction. To some extent this feels like the end of one case but the middle of something else. And i want to talk about that. The other cases in a moment, ron. Erik, i want to bring you back in. Before we talk to ron, you were hitting on this point that he just made. Not only was bill cosby a pioneer for African Americans. He was, as ron just said, he was americas dad. It is how do you square the fact that this guy has received pretty much every award there is to receive, hon norary degrees. Youre a member of an association that gave him career Achievement Award in 2002. How does everybody now square with what ron just call third down trail of destruction left by bill cosby . Well, obviously bill cosby was an adept performer who led a double life. And im a member of the tv critics association. We voted over the summer to rescind the career Achievement Award that he was given in 2002 kwlr and that was Just Announced today. And we joined a lot of groups that reconsidered the decision to honor him given what we now know about what he seemed to be doing in private at least with Andrea Constand. Whats interesting to me about the constand case is this was a case that the world initially sort of turned away from. I mean, Andrea Constand first talked about her issues with bill cosby in 2005. And tried to get a prosecution going. And there was media coverage. She filed a lawsuit against him and there were 13 other women who were willing to step forward at that moment to say they had had similar experiences with bill cosby, but you know, cosby settled the case and for some reason after that, a lot of the pop culture world got amnesia about what happened, and it wasnt until many years later that the world took a closer look at what was going on and prosecutors decided to prosecute bill cosby, and now we have this result. And so one of the lessons to be learned, i think, is weve reached a point where these actions that these powerful men have taken sometimes decades in the past, will be reexamined. It is time to take a look at how we treated these cases in the past and reevaluate them and understand that maybe we should not have turned away when we did when they initially surfaced . Do you think the media world looks at it differently now . Do you think 14 years ago when it was first brought up with the support of many other women and couldnt get a hearing and the pop culture world got amnesia about it, do you think honestly were better today than we were then about this . I do think were better ab