Bill Cosby has been found guilty in the trial for Andrea Constand, who accused the disgraced comedian of three counts of aggravated indecent assault in which she claims she was drugged and sexually assaulted in his house. This is the first victory for a Cosby accuser after Constand's first trial held last year ended in a mistrial. This time around, Constand's team called upon five other accusers with similar allegations. A jury of seven men and five women voted after 14 hours of deliberation to convict the former TV star, according to BuzzFeed. He could face a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
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Another accuser, Lili Bernard, who claims Cosby drugged and raped her in the '90s, told BuzzFeed that his conviction represents "a real shift in humanity, in rape culture. Experts had said early on that the effect of the #MeToo movement would likely play a significant factor in the deliberations." It's true that this is also the first legal victory in the post-#MeToo era, in which waves of women have come forward about their alleged abuse following the initial allegations against Harvey Weinstein published in The New York Times.
Cosby has continued to deny all allegations of nonconsensual sex.
If you have experienced sexual violence of any kind, please visit Rape Crisis or call 0808 802 9999.
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