Bill Cosby is a ‘sexually violent predator,’ state board finds

A Pennsylvania board has recommended that Bill Cosby be declared a "sexually violent predator" — a classification that would require him to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and undergo treatment.

In a request filed in court Tuesday, District Attorney Kevin R. Steele cited the state sexual offender assessment board's recommendations and asked Judge Steven T. O'Neill to schedule a hearing to determine whether Cosby will get the designation.

A Montgomery County jury found Cosby guilty in April of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, after a weeks-long trial that included testimony from five other women who had accused Cosby of sexual misconduct. The 81-year-old entertainer is scheduled to be sentenced in September.

Under Pennsylvania law, a sexually violent predator is a person who has "a mental abnormality or personality disorder the makes the person likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses."

Details about the board's findings on Cosby have not been made public. In Pennsylvania, the assessment board issues a recommendation on whether someone should be designated a sexually violent predator, but a judge can accept or reject that recommendation.

The judge must hold a hearing before sentencing, at which prosecutors call an expert witness who is of the sexual offender assessment board to testify about their evaluation. Defense lawyers also have a chance to present their own expert evaluation.

O'Neill will make the final ruling on whether Cosby should be considered a sexually violent predator.

If Cosby is designated as such, he will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and participate in counseling or treatment at least once a month.

"We will see them in court," Andrew Wyatt, Cosby's publicist, said Tuesday in response to Steele's request.

Cosby has been on house arrest at his home in Cheltenham since April when he was found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault. Wyatt said Tuesday that Cosby was doing "great."

His sentencing hearing, for which the judge has reserved two days, is scheduled to begin Sept. 24.