Nothing like what we have been seeing lately as he has been on trial. Everything in the last hour has been remarkable. We continue to follow the latest on the breaking news about bill koss wee. We are moments away from hearing the victim Andrea Constand. Americas dad, bill cosby was found guilty on all charge bias a philadelphia jury. The verdict was handed down a little over an hour ago in his retrial. The reaction to it so far has been overwhelming especially for the dozens of women who say he sexually assaulted him. One woman who said he assaulted her in the early 1990s broke into tears outside the courthouse. I feel like im dreaming. Can you pinch me. I feel like im dreaming. I fae like my faith in humanity is restored. I thank the jury so much for positioning themselves on the right side of history. I just want to hug them. Bill cosby, three words for you. Guilty, guilty, guilty cosbys guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand. She was the former Temple University employee who says cosby drugged and assaulted her in his home of january of 2004. His initial trial resulted in a mistrial back in june. Each of the three counts carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison. Cosby is 80 years old. With us now, ron allen outside the montgomery count courthouse. He has been covering this the last time and this time around. Ron, tell me what went down there an hour ago. Reporter it was an amazing day here. It is a day that cosby survivors as they allr call themselves, accusers of his just didnt think would happen. They hoped and prayed it would. Thats where the most emotion in this trill has been in the past weeks as it has been going on. I have lily bernard. You are an actress. A visual artist and an actress. And a mom of six. You accused him of assaulting you in the 90s when you were a guest on the cosby show . Yes. How do you sum up this day . It is a new day for Sexual Assault survivors, tee mail and male. This jury has shown if you are a Sexual Assault survivor even of the most powerful iconic beloved figure that you can stand up against victim blaming and slut shaming and mischaracterization. The five women who came forward to tell their stories, how difficult was it for them . It was a very an emotional powerful, very dramatic, more so than last time. It was very dramatic. Some of them have become dear friends of mine. It was painful for me to witness each one of them. I wept with them because their stories of abuse by bill cosby absolutely paralleled my stories. His m. O. Was the same. That was hard to bear. What do you think should happen to him now . He should go straight to the slammer. He should go into the prison cell. He should hear the clink clink of the handcuffs on his wrists. He should be treated like any other depraved lying coward cereal rapist. This is a surreal moment. Did you think this would happen . No. You thought he was too much, too powerful. Absolutely. The lawyers . Well, the lawyers i thought were the prosecution was outstanding. They were so prepared. They were so well researched. This time they brought an Expert Witness who spoke about rape myths. A Expert Witness, a psychiatrist who dispelled myths about rape culture. And they called andrea a pathological liar, the defense did, and attacking the other women. How did you feel listening to that. That was disgusting. It was depraved. I agree with prosecutor who just did a tremendous Closing Argument along with ryan stewart ryan. And she said that it was what did she say . What did she say . She accused him of laughing he did laugh. Bill the depravity of bill cosby was shown that he was often laughing when the victims were crying on the stand. It is effective could have a rel lively young africanamerican woman get in bill cosbys face and say to him what so many people are feeling about how disgraceful a character he has become. You are talking about a woman who looked at him and said under oath, and you remember, dont you, mr. Cosby. And he was laughing at her. She was 17 years old when he drug asked raped her and when she was crying about how he took away her childhood he was laughing. Thanks for being with us. I know this is a happy day for you. My pleasure. Happy, sad, emotional, all kinds of things i imagine. It is. She has been here every day. Every day last year, every day this year. We are hoping now to hear soon from kevin steele, the District Attorney who prosecuted this case. Andrea constand as well, to see what their take on all of this is. Its just an unbelievable day here ali. A seminole day, a day that advocates for women and victims of Sexual Assault will always celebrate what has happened here. Such a powerful big figure, bill cosby its hard to find words to describe how powerful a figure he was in American Culture and how diminished he is and how he is just just such a hes just out hes its hard to find the words, ali. Ron, let me ask you a question. We are watching the cosby car winding its way through suburban philadelphia in Montgomery County. I want to ask you something. You watched this trial. You watched the last trial. Tell me a little bit about what you are just talking about with lily about his demeanor in court this time and last. Thats why i was hung up on words, ali. Engks for many of us this is personal as well. I grew up with bill cosby. Right. Scratchy records, fat albert, all that good stuff. Of course. Thats all there. But sitting in court and watching him for the past trials, man, how hes just devastating and so disappointing. And this i know amongst all his fans and particularly in the Africanamerican Community there is this sense of betrayal, this sense of disgust that this has happened. I mean his name is associated with so many universities, particularly the historically black colleges and universities in this country. Yeah. And just the feeling of betrayal and disgust with what had happened and how he was able to keep this a secret for so long. Right. Remember, there are more than 60 or so accusers who essentially toll the same story. Their cases are not being tried in courts of law. There was just this one woman. Again, this was the last case yep. This was the only case that fell within the statute of limitations. Yep. Where it could be tried in the criminal courts. This was the last chance to get him. And the d. A. Was roundly criticized for going at this again act second time. A lot of people didnt think it was going to get anywhere. Getting into the local politics he ran on a campaign to say he was going to get bill cosby essentially and his predecessor didnt. He had a lot riding on this. But the bottom line is this was an amazing day, a seminole day in the life this country. Thanks for your continuing coverage. We will hear from the d. A. Shortly. For more on the verdict is whats next for cosby i want to bring in katie fang and is a valls. I remember sitting with you last time we had a verdict in the case. And i wasnt sure seal was going to be successful this time. And to ron allens point, cosbys demeanor was more confident than he was last time around. What happened. Last year, 52 hours of deliberations. We were on cosby verdict watch for days. Yep. Now we have a verdict in less that what, 12 hours or so . And that verdict was resoundingly what you have heard, dealt, guilty, guilty. But whats remarkable, ali, is you know, cosby tried to snow all of us, didnt he . He spent decades perfecting this persona of being americas dad. But we saw that had he he left the courthouse he did not need to use that cane for anything. Maybe we can find video for this. He was relying on other people, he looked 15 years older than he does right now. Sure. He couldnt see, it seemed. He couldnt walk on his own. Really, at this point in time there is going to be a lot of legal hurdles for bill cosby could. He is out on a Million Dollar bond pending sentencing. Ultimately there is going to be a presentencing investigation report. What does that mean . There is going to be a report thats going to be prepared. Its going to investigate bill cosby all of his life, et cetera, but you are going to have an incredible sentencing hearing thats going to happen. Maybe all 60 victims are going to come to testify against bill cosby because this is total and utter vindication for women who did not fall within the statute of limitations that did not have a voice. And the judge in this case allowed five additional victims to testify. That in and of itself may end up being the grounds for appeal. There are marked critical differences between this retrial and that which happened last year. Katy, we want to listen in to the d. A. Norristown for justice. Thats what 12 jurors from montgomery provided her. And i would be remiss if i did not thank first those 12 jurors for their diligence, the sacrifices that they made as well as the sacrifices of their families so that they could serve in this important duty that they did. So today we are finally in a place to say that justice was done. As prosecutors, we have a responsibility to seek justice. And we have to go wherever and to whom ever it takes us. And to begin, i want to step back to a point that was pretty decisive in this case. And thats when the judge released the civil case deposition and indicated in his opinion that the defendants deposition showed the stark contrast between bill cosby the public moralist and bill cosby the subject of serious allegations concerning improper and perhaps criminal conduct. At that point, the prosecutors who are here to do the right thing and specifically by Predecessor Firm opened up and reopened this investigation. So thats a duty, but that duty took courage because she had to open up a case against a powerful man. But i can say definitively that thats one of the things that is done over and over again in the Montgomery County District Attorneys office. We have shown from our record that money and power or who you are will not stop us from a criminal investigation or prosecuting a case. What was revealed through this investigation was a man who had spend decades preying on women that he drugged and sexually assaulted, and a man who had evaded this moment here today far too long. He used his celebrities. He used his wealth, he used his network of supporters to help him conceal his crimes. Now we know today who was behind that act who the real bill cosby was. And the squir has spoken with one voice in a court of law and found the defendant guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constan in his elkins park home. Now, there are a number of people up here. And im going to try to address as many of this as i can. But before, i want to mention the team that worked tirelessly to get us to this point. And the most important person in this is Andrea Constand. Where are you . There you are. 14 years later, it may be easy to forget that she was that first courageous person that stood up in public to go to the authorities and say that bill cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her. Her courage, her resilience in the face of horrible and unfounded attacks upon her and her family has been so inspiring to all of us. We thank her. We thank her family. We thank her mother, geeiana, for trusting us through this process of prosecuting her attacker. Standing next to her there is delores treeiany, who with beebe kivettes were the ones who were asking the questions in that deposition that the judge was referring to that got us to the point where we were able to reopen this case and seek justice. And standing with her through this whole process has been a lot of other courageous women who were willing to stan up and tell their stories about being drugged or sexuallyly assaultedr raped. 19 were willing to stand up with us in this prosecution and take the witness stand. And we are humbled by the courage all of them showed. And we cant help but applaud and celebrate the courage of the five witnesses that had a chance to face bill cosby in this case to tell the jury, to tell all of you what he did to them. So heidi thomas, shalan lasha. Janice dickerson, janice baker kinney, and elise lublin. The public here thank all of them. I call each of them after the verdict. I was not able to talk to all of them, but they know what they have done. And they know what their courage helped all of us do. So supporting all of these women have been the victim advocates, the victims groups, the womens groups, the antirape groups. And so many others. And each of these groups play such an Important Role in supporting these women and helping them to heal from the ordeal that they have been put through. Those are the people we all owe a debt of gratitude today for their strength for their resilience through this entire process as well as he have day because they stand with us, they work with the victims, and they make a difference in their lives. Im great grateful to stand here before you with this team. And again its not all of our team who worked to see that justice was done. But we had the i dont have come many legal hurdles that were thrown at us by various defense lawyers who have been on this days for the past 28 months. This time, from the lawyers of four different law firms, and each step of the way we fought for the opportunity for the victims to be heard. The opportunity to get this case to a jury. And the opportunity to be standing before all of you after hearing the defendant had been convicted of three counts of aggravated indecent assault. This team has been incredible. I cant say enough about the prosecutors, the detectives, dedicated staff who despite everything that was thrown at us, at them, stayed the course, eye on the ball, and worked to get us here today. Im so incredibly proud of these talented people. They are committed always to do the right thing for the right reasons, and im going to have to start with i think i heard him referred to recently as it was thunder and lightning. [ laughter ] so mr. Ryan here on my left. He head our Family Protection unit. And you know, hes prosecuted a lot of cases, Sexual Assaults, rapes. And those who have been drugged in Sexual Assault cases. He has been with our office six years, and just is one of the best. You saw some of that talent coming across throughout this trial. And i got reports on how i looked as i was watching what they did. And its the other thing i enjoy doing is coaching, and you though, you get to these points where you work with kids, you work with young adults, and you get to that point where you put them out on field or onto the court and theres not much you can do at that point other than watch. And i could not have been more proud of what they did throughout this whole thing and some of the crossexamination that you all got to see, and some of the quick witted remarks were something i think even caused the jurors to laugh when testimony was being read or coming back on thing and where they had the ability to hear his closing. And kristen here. So we wouldnt be here if not for her. And i say that because when we came back to look at this case, reesa, fuhrman i should refer to as judge fuhrman now asked kristen and some of our team to go to toronto to meet with andrea. And that was a difficult task. And when kristen came back, she was adamant, adamant about what we should do. And we moved forward. And it was the right thing to do. And she has stuck through this the whole way. And she had an opportunity which was kind of a bad day for me when she had a great opportunity for her and her family to go to an excellent law firm, stradly ronan. And we talked a lot. And kristen did not want to leave this and not see it to the end. And we talked to bill cassasso,e chairman of the firm who we all owe a debt of gratitude to for allowing her to stay on with us and stay with us through this case. And you have seen the results of that. She, like mr. Ryan here, has prosecuted so many Sexual Assaults, Domestic Violence cases, and shes always stood up for victims and has continued to do this. And i couldnt they have supported our positions to keep it moving forward. They have kept up with everything. All everything all of these lawyers have thrown at us and did it with amazing grace. You have seen them in court. You have seen what they can do. And there has been some pretty memorible writing alone the way from each of them. And you you all saw a difference maker, too, when the judge ruled that we could bring prior bad acts in. Adrian handled that argument and just did a stellar job to get us in the position we are in. Our Law Enforcement community. Some of them are up here with me. All the folks from cheltonham, sergeant schaeffer, who you saw testify on the stan. But behind that testimony is thousands of hours of work, interviews, analysis, and just plain good policework to put together the case that he did. Our partners in this also have been the leaders of that police department. Now chief fry, who has walked this walk with us, and before him, john norris, the chief who did the work. And when we were looking to open up this case, he was adamant on what we should do and where we should go with it. And he is a great man. Our affiants here. We have got the quiet one over there, former chief shade, who is detective shade with our department, and detective reed who i heard might be your birthday today . Yeah. Worry all going to sing happy birthday now. No, just kidding. And these detectives worked really hard to reopen this case and throughout the whole process. And i couldnt be more proud of the entire investigative team. They are they are supported by the lieutenant from our major crimes, the deputy chief who has handled so much of these investigative efforts. Our chief county detective, and all the support that they provided and have picked up in this. Beyond the guilty verdict, there have been some other i think important outcomes in this case. As we understand, this has been important for sexual victim Sexual Assault victims everywhere. But we did this case because a crime was committed against Andrea Constand, and it happened in our jurisdiction. And that was our duty to move forward on. And when you look at this and look at what andrea has done to stand up and declare what happened to him, she has been a major factor in a movement that has gone in the right direction finally. And her quiet courage and her actions through this have helped victims to stand up and tell what happened to them. And i think now there is tremendous awareness of how these crimes have been cover up and papered over for the years. And i hope and i pray that our actions have shown that we will stan up with these victims. And all women that are out there standing up and telling their truth, i, we support them and encourage them to keep it up. And i hope now everybody recognizes that here you are going to be treated with dignity and respect through the process. Another outcome has been increased look at rape myths or Sexual Assault myths. And the myth that a victim of Sexual Assault, especially by someone they knew or trusted, will immediately report it to the authorities, that they will behave in a certain way or they will never talk to anyone again we have dispelled that here. And thats because thats false. And thats not always the way it goes. Too often these types of crimes, Sexual Assault do to the get reported. Especially in cases where a drug has been used in a drugfacilitated Sexual Assault. And sbakt kated victims dont have a clear memory of what went on. We hope that this verdict sends a strong message to the victim that these types of crimes can come forward and be heard on what happened to them. So there was a defendant in this case. The next steps. A sentencing date will be issued by the judge. That is typically within about a 60 to 90day period of time on when the sentencing date will come. In the interim, he will be looked at and assessed in a couple of ways. There is a presentence investigation that will be done. There will be a sexual levi len predator assessment that will be done. And all of these are standard procedures in these type of cases. These assessments will then be used by the judge in determining the sentence. In that sentence hearing we will have the tune to put evidence on, as will the defense. The defendant may be facing years in prison. He was convicted of three counts of this. So technically that would be up to 30 years. However, we have to look at merger of those counts to determine what the final maximum will be that he is facing. So in addition to jail time, and i mention this because there has been some things that have been asked about it over time. Typically, what is done in a case is that a defendant will be assessed and all of these things will be looked at in terms of a sentencing. But when a sentencing occurs, there is also an assess men for the costs of prosecution. We expect that we will be arguing that the costs associated with both the trials, the sequestration, the sheriffs costs for this will go to the defendant. And i will be relying on defense counsels opening remarks in this when he was talking about 3. 38 million being a paltry sum or simply a nuisance. So, clearly, the costs of prosecution in this matter should not be a problem for the defendant. Dolores, you wanted to Say Something here. Let me get out of the way. Good afternoon. I know its going to be disappointing to you, but i have the privilege of speaking for andrea, and andrea will not be speaking today. Only i will. First of all, we have to thank the Montgomery County for doing what they have done. Kevin, kristen, stewart, and the many, many lawyers in the d. A. s office who have been diligent in bringing about this just result. I cant even begin to name all of the people who have worked on this case. We also im doing this on behalf of myself and my cocounsel, beebe kivettes who unfortunately moved to philadelphia and is probably stuck on the schuylkill as we speak or she would also be here. But we also want to thank all the Police Officers who dedicated themselves to this case, detective reap, sergeant schaeffer, detective shade and the many others who are unnamed who all contributed to what has happened here today. But most of all, i want to express on behalf, if i can, the gratitude of so many women who admire andrea for her courage. She came here 14 years ago for justice. I am so happy today that i can say that although justice was delayed, it was not denied. It took a lot of courage for her to come back and to do this. There are so many people who have expressed their admiration for her the millions and i do mean millions of people who have admired her courage, admired her calm, admired her neern. And i would ask you to bear in mind that when Something Like this happens to someone, male, female, whoever, they have to work every day to be happy. Something that we all who have been opportunity in our lives and not been victimized do not have to do. And when you see andrea and you have all commented about how calm she is, how graceful she is, thats something she has had to work out every day since january of 2004, probably january 6th or 7th, when this happened to her. This is a lifealtering experience for any woman, any victim. And the person who i think needs to be heralded for what she has done is andrea. Thank you. We will take questions. Go ahead. You were in the moment as this verdict was being read. Take us back. I know there was an exchange with the defendant immediately after. But in those moments what was going through your mind, please . Well, i have been at this for a while, 25 years, and when a verdict comes back, you are always anxious on what the result is going to be. I keep the verdict sheet in front of me. And i checked them off as they were read. You know, it is a solemn moment because its hard work for a jury, 12 ordinary folks from our community that came in and served. And so i didnt react. I wont under those circumstances. And we heard the verdict. And im just grateful for what they did and that they were willing to stand with us in this and stan d up for what happened. I have never seen the type of attacks that were leveed on people that were coming forward to describe how they were sexually assaulted. And when that happened, i was concerned. I was really concerned that were not moving past the vestiges of what happened before, that people wouldnt get it. But i think they listened to dr. Ziv. They heard what was real and what was false. And they were strong when they came back. They were polled, meaning that every one of them was asked whether they agreed to the verdict. And all i heard from each of them was strength. And im grateful for that and grateful for what they all did, and the commitment that they gave to Montgomery County, our citizens, our communities. And this is bigger. Joe . During the discussion of bail, an incredible outburst by the defendant throughout your opening and closing statements, you have said this is not dr. Huxtable, this is not americas dad. Is that the man that you were speaking of . I guess you got to see a brief view of who he was. Thats just him acting out. I i think everybody got to see who he really is when each of those prior bad act witnesses got to testify. You know, the guy was an actor for a long time. And it was an act. It was an act. We got to see who he really was. Kevin, standing here before us, you speak with emotion in your voice, especially in talking about andrea. You speak with tears in your eyes. Describe emotionally what this process has been like for you, especially considering the critics who did not think it was worth retrying this case. Look, you know, this is this is about our duty as prosecutors. And its really not that complicated. Its about doing the right thing. We had to investigate a case. We had to make determinations on what happened. And then move forward. And thats our job. And thats our duty. And we i hope did it in as graceful a way as we could despite what was being thrown at us and being thrown at a number of people. But im hot going to get into nonsense with him on this. Do you think other prosecutors will look at this case in dealing with allegations of Sexual Assault [ inaudible ] i dont know. I cant speak for anyone else, but i can tell you it its been an interesting start to becoming District Attorney. I have had a couple of cases here that have been with powerful people, as most of you know. You know, i tried a case where the chief Law Enforcement officer in the state had committed crimes and we had to go in. And thats not the most comfortable place to be when you have to tear apart your profession in some ways because she was a prosecutor. But i think thats just an example of, you know, we are going to go where the investigations take us. We are going to look to see who has committed a crime and whether they are powerful, whether they are wealthy, whether they have evaded the law in the past, we just have to do our jobs. And you know, i hope if there is anything that comes from this its that you know you can move forward on these cases. And when you do, you know, i have now had two juries stand up against the powerful and say guilty on every single count that has been alleged against them. And i think thats a recognition of the fact that we are doing the right thing and the fact that the juries understand the significance of this. Are you going to continue to get from mr. Cosby before sentencing . And express what your concerns are. I said it in court. I am concerned when there is somebody with the wealth and the aspects of being a potential risk of flight because of what hes facing. The judge made a determination, and i respect his determination, that that could be satisfied by him remaining in Montgomery County for the present. And we will have to take a look at it. Its not necessarily a closed issue for you at this point . Well, no. Its these things never are. We have cases every day where people are out on bail and they commit new crimes or they try to flee or they do something along those lines. We just have to be vigilant and make sure that we are keeping an eye on every aspect of this so that we can be prepared if Something Like that happens. Yes, sir. Mr. Steele, tom mesereau said the fight is not over and a number of legal experiences have point fahd the prior bad act witnesses being a potential vulnerability on appeal. Can you taub about how you are ready to defend against that . Do you feel confident thats not going to expose you to problems on appeal . So i mentioned them before. We have our deputy District Attorney, bob fallon, the captain of our unit, adrian jap jappe. Ill put them up against anybody. Anybody. And they walked with us through this. And we asked for 19, and we felt that we had the ground for 19 or otherwise we wouldnt be asking for it. So we are appreciative that five women got to voice what occurred to them in the courtroom. But this is a case where there were so many more. Do you think do you expect to have more women testify at the sentencing . Would that be the place to put forward more victims. Thats a possibility. Im to the going to say what we are going to do in terms of sentence. You do the presentencing investigation and look at what the assessments develop. You speak to victims you know, they get a voice in this. And they should have a voice in this to make a determination of what the appropriate request is at the time. So thats all the process that we will be going through in between now and when the sentencing date is. But it is a place where more victims potentially can be heard . Potentially can. But its also an area that is somewhat gray in pennsylvania to be able to do that. We have heard testimony in effect from five of the women at this point. So i think that goes into the consideration. And well be assessing it. And our appellate unit will tell us what we are allowed to do and not allowed to do. Have you been has your office been approached by any new cosby accusers since the trial began . I cant speak about investigative matters. Ill leave it at that. Mr. Steele . Yes, sir. This was a vastly different trial obviously than the first one. Speak if you can about the importance of having those five women allowed to testify, the additional accusers. And also counteracting defenses of marvel jacksons testimony. You all got to hear from someone who i think very highly of, dr. Barbara ziv. And the legislature in their wisdom has given us the ability to have somebody who is an expert in this area educate a jury. And you saw that as our number one witness, our first witness in this case. And i think in the process, she was able to explain the situation and then when you heard from the different people and you saw what the defense was trying to do despite those Sexual Assault myths that lie out there, i think there is a recognition. Endid, i hope its not attacked its continued because it didnt work. It is a situation where it was a different trial. We were able to do that on the front end of the case. And i think thats the benefit of having done this once before. Without the Legislature Making that change only a few years ago to allow someone like dr. Ziv, you wouldnt have been able to call her to the stand. How critical was she in your ability to secure a conviction today. I think that would be a better question for the jurors on how impactful she was. But to us, it was very important and its something that we kept going back to and looking at. And kristen did the direct examination from her. But we went back to that report that she did a lot. Because it was significant in showing what the real science is behind this and how this how this goes. And dr. Villier, who testified in the last trial about this, shes another great expert in this arena. And i think its important that these messages get out, that thats what this is. And maybe at some point we wont need to put on an expert to educate a juror because we will all recognize that those Sexual Assault myths are not real and we should be looking at everything that happens to somebody who has been saully sewelled. Any chance that Marguerite Jackson could face perjury charges . I cant talk about investigations. Can you speak about the difference between having a local jury as onned to an out of town jury . Do you think that had had a jury. This jury seemed to be very different. They paid close attention and took lot of notes. They were ly paying attention. Really paying attention. Do you think having a mob month county jury, do you think that helped . Obviously it helped. You won. I appreciate being on my home court. I do. Its we have a Great Community here. We have a community that supports Law Enforcement. We have a community of people that sacrifice so much to think going into this you are going to be removed from your family as the defense kept saying, for a month, is a huge sacrifice to make. But their willingness to do this, and as you said, to pay the rapt attention that they did to every step of the way were just grateful. And im grateful that we live in this community. Im grateful that we get to jur the right thing. And thats what happens here. It happens over and over again. So, yeah, it was great being on our home court. Mr. Steele, what is your message to prosecutors in other jurisdictions whether they be new york city, los angeles, chicago, chester county, who may view these cases as historically difficult to prosecute . After today what is your message to any prosecutor who may be on the fence about pushing forward with a case of this nature . Im not here to send messages to my colleagues. We are in a, in a, in a Great Community of prosecutors, particularly in pennsylvania. And i get to work with them through the pennsylvania District Attorneys association. And all i can tell you about that is the incredible outpouring of support that ive gotten every step of the way along this journey, theyve been great. You know, i, i look at our colleagues in the Attorney Generals Office and how they have walked this walk with us. Michelle henry, for example, who tried the kaine case with me. Each step of the way, these folks are here to support. So i dont think its any need or time to send a message to all them. Were all working these cases together and each person has to deal with it in their own jurisdictions. Yes. Mr. Steele, what is your thought to victims out there . Because as kristen said in her Closing Arguments, they are character assassinations that take place in the courtroom. And if someone feels too scared to come forward at this time, just a Chilling Effect . I hope the end result will, will not cause somebody to refrain from coming forward because we got to the right result in this. And, yeah, its difficult. And people were put through character assassinations, and it was very difficult to sit through and watch. But you also saw what the jury did in the end, and i hope that, that people recognize that you got to show courage like this lady did, like she showed courage. She stepped up. She went forward. And, and we got to the right result. And she stayed through this, you know. She didnt have to start down this journey with us. She didnt have to come here for the first trial. She didnt have to come here for the second trial. But she did. I think that means so much, and i hope that others that have been victimized understand that and see that courage and see where it can get because for all of us, it was just about doing justice. And sometimes you feel like thats just us that is looking for that. And you got a lot of people working against you to that end. But despite each of these legal hurdles, these things that happened across the way, we got here. And we got to all sit in that courtroom and hear the defendant convicted of all of the offenses, found guilty. And i think thats important for victims to know and understand, that were going to stand with them. Were going to walk this journey with them and do the best that we can and treat them with dignity and respect. You talked about what that was like being able to mark off on your sheet for each count hes guilty. Describe for the moment when you were able to turn and face andrea after you heard the verdict. No way we got upstairs and i gave her a hug. [ inaudible question ] you guys made a point of apologizing to andrea in your closing which was powerful. How do you think she was treated back then . They talked a lot about being right in the middle of the investigation when mr. Cosby pulled the plug. He didnt have the courtesy to know she was pulling the plug. She found out from reporters showing up on the doorstep. There was an issue where she there were a lot of hurdles you had to overcome obviously to get her to agree to this. What has that meant to you guys . How do you think iall ill say on that was o behalf of our office, we are sorry for what happened then, but we got a chance to make up for it. And we hopefully have. We hopefully have, so, all right. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. And that is District Attorney kevin steele who had become the newly elected District Attorney who, you know, against the better judgment of many people decided he was going to reprosecute this case against bill cosby after the his predecessor had not been successful in prosecuting this case the last time around, and then today securing three guilty verdicts. Guilty verdicts on all three charges. I want to talk a little bit about this with my next guest. The me too movement was mentioned outside the courthouse as part of Andrea Constands victory. Tarana burke is a survivor of Sexual Violence. Thank you for being with us. Good to see you again. What is your feeling about this . They say that this case succeeded to some degree on the strength of the people who testified that he had done something to them on the strength of the fact they had an expert explain Sexual Assault myths to the jury. Uhhuh. Im glad that that was a part of the trial because we need to dispel the myths around Sexual Violence and around Sexual Assault. I feel i dont know, i feel so many ways. Definitely emotional. I keep thinking about the 619 women who came forward and how much there was debate in our various communities about whether they were telling the truth or not and how many people came to cosbys defense and did not believe these women. And so im so hopeful that theyll rest well tonight knowing that they have some recourse. Does this feel like justice to you . Because so many of these women were not able to tell the story. There were 19 women who were willing to come forward. They could only get five of them to be able to testify and really got convictions on the strength of one womans case. Does that feel like justice . Right. You know, i cant define what justice feels like for those women. It feels like accountability. It feels like these womens lives and their bodies and their stories matter. They were at least willing to be heard. Im sure the women who werent heard feel some sense of relief that at least the other women it happened to were able to tell their stories and Carry Forward the stories of the other women in doing that. Thanks very much for joining us and thanks for everything youve done with the me too movement. Thank you. Danny, final thoughts from you as we close out the hour. Interesting case. It tells us a lot about the power of these prior bad acts witnesses. Five allowed to testify as opposed to one allowed to testify in the first trial. All right. And just to recap what has happened let me bring kate snow in here because kpaet has been followi kate has been following this story for years. A lot of people say they were surprised by it. I can tell you a lot of women ive been talking to all these years, ali and testified in this trial, they were surprised. I dont know if you saw me on the phone. I was talking to one, lisa love land was one who testified in the court. She said, im still trying to process this. Im still trying to figure out how i feel about this because it was rather unexpected. I think they went into today when they started hearing there was a verdict, janice baker some juror might have reasonable doubt and that perhaps there would be another hung jury which is what happened a year ago. And now theyre all flooding me with Text Messages saying they feel relieved. They feel vindicated. They feel justice. And theyre now trying to figure out whats next. What effect will this have on all those other women out there who are also seeking justice . And thats what the District Attorney was talking about, hoping they could get verdicts without someone explaining the smiths. Tlan thanks for all the work youve done in getting society to the place it is today. Dan i and ron for his reporting. That wraps up the business iz afternoon for me. See you tomorrow at 11 00 a. M. Eastern and 3 00 p. M. Eastern find me on social media. Thank you for watching. Deadline white house with Nicolle Wallace starts right now. Hi, everyone. Its 4 00 in washington. That sound you hear is the primal scream from the president s lawyers who could not have been down with Donald Trumps plan to bring back the pajama phoner on fox and friends. The president spoke to his favorite morning show hosts for 29 jawdropping minutes on a range of topics from Robert Mueller to north korea to kanye west to melanias lack of birthday gifts. It was so long and free wheeling that the hosts were the ones who ended the in
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