Timeline: Bill Cosby: A 50-year chronicle of accusations and accomplishments
Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison on Tuesday, completing the famed actor and comic’s spectacular fall from one of America’s most beloved entertainers to disgraced sex offender.
Here’s a look at milestones in Cosby’s career, which spans five decades, and the allegations against him.
1963
First recording
Bill Cosby releases his first album -- "Bill Cosby is a Very Funny Fellow ... Right!" -- and earns his first Grammy nomination.
1965
First Grammy
Cosby wins a Grammy for best comedy performance for the album "I Started Out as a Child." He is nominated for 15 Grammys over the next 22 years, winning nine times.
1965-1968
Stars in 'I Spy'
Bill Cosby, left, and Robert Culp made history on “I Spy,” which featured a black man and a white man as equal partners. Cosby won an Emmy for his performance three years in a row.
With the debut of the espionage drama “I Spy” on NBC, Cosby becomes the first African American actor to star in a dramatic series on American TV. Cosby wins an Emmy for his performance three years in a row.
Mid-1960's
Rakes in top dollar in comedy shows
Cosby's long stand-up career takes off as he stars in "I Spy." He makes $30,000 a week in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe, and $5,000 a night for random performances, according to a 1966 L.A. Times article. Many of Cosby's accusers will say the incidents occurred while he was on the road doing comedy, mostly in Las Vegas.
Mid-1960's
Sunni Welles
Sunni Welles alleges at a March 27, 2015, news conference that Cosby raped her twice when she was an aspiring singer in the mid-1960s by drugging her drink. She said the first time he attacked her, she was drinking Champagne; after the second time, she never saw him again.
1965
Kristina Ruehli
Kristina Ruehli was a 22-year-old secretary at a talent agency in Los Angeles in 1965 when she met Cosby. Ruehli alleges that Cosby invited her to his home where she says she passed out after two drinks. “It was all foggy, and I woke up in the bed," she told Philadelphia Magazine. "I found myself on the bed, and he had his shirt off. He had unzipped his pants. I was just coming to.”
1966
Wins first Emmy
Cosby wins his first Emmy, a leading actor award for playing a globe-trotting spy in "I Spy." He goes on to win in 1967 and 1968 for the same role.
1967
Carla Ferrigno
In November 2014, Carla Ferrigno, the wife of former "Incredible Hulk" star Lou Ferrigno, says that in 1967 she went on a double date with a friend, Cosby and his wife, Camille. She said Cosby got her alone, grabbed her and kissed her. She pushed him off and ran to find her date, who took her home.
1969
Linda Joy Traitz
Linda Joy Traitz, who has a criminal record in Florida, was working as a waitress at a Los Angeles restaurant co-owned by Cosby in 1969 when she alleges he drugged and groped her in his car.
1969
Joan Tarshis
Joan Tarshis comes forward on Nov. 16, 2014, to say that Cosby drugged and assaulted her in 1969 when she was pursuing acting at the age of 19. Cosby allegedly forced her to perform oral sex on him during one encounter, and drugged and raped her in another.
1969
Cindra Ladd
Cindra Ladd, the wife of former 20th Century Fox President Alan Ladd Jr., says in a Jan. 26, 2015, Huffington Post opinion piece that she first met Cosby in 1969 in New York when she was 21, single and working for film producer Ray Stark. One night before a movie outing, Ladd says she was complaining of a headache when Cosby offered her a “miracle cure." The next morning, she says she woke up naked at a friend's apartment, and Cosby was wearing a white terry cloth bathrobe: “It was obvious that he had had sex with me.”
1969
Linda Brown
Linda Brown, above left, a former magazine cover model, tells the Los Angeles Times in February 2015 that she was 21 when she agreed to meet Cosby for dinner after his show in 1969. She says he took her to his hotel room, where he drugged and sexually assaulted her. “I felt like a rag doll and like a real-life blow-up doll for him,” she said. “I was in a stupor.”
1969-1971
Stars in 'The Bill Cosby Show'
Cosby stars in “The Bill Cosby Show” as a high school gym teacher who is also a bachelor. It is Cosby's first starring role on a TV series after his groundbreaking work on "I Spy."
1969
Wins Emmy for his first variety program
Cosby wins an Emmy for outstanding variety or musical program for "The Bill Cosby Special."
1969
Stars in 'Fat Albert' TV movie
"Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert" gets its start as a TV movie.
1969
Victoria Valentino
Victoria Valentino, a former Playboy bunny, said Cosby drugged and raped her in late 1969 in an apartment in the Hollywood Hills. She said Cosby had offered her and a friend white pills as she was mourning the loss of her 6-year-old and several other relatives.
Now a registered nurse and nursing instructor, Valentino is part of PAVE, Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment, to help prevent young starlets from becoming sexual prey.
“If nothing comes out of this in terms of jail time for him or going to court even, at least it has given us a platform of trying to raise awareness of what rape culture is in our society and that we need to do something to change the thinking,” Valentino said.
1970
Autumn Burns
Autumn Burns was working in a Las Vegas casino when she was 20 years old. She says Cosby invited her to his suite. She says he gave her a drug-tainted drink and forced her to have sex with him. "The only person I ever told about the rape was my baccarat boss," she said in an April 23, 2015, news conference.
1971
Louisa Moritz
The actress, who appeared in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," told New York Magazine that Cosby forcibly put his penis in her mouth and demanded oral sex while she was waiting in the green room for an appearance on "The Tonight Show" in 1971.
1970s
Tamara Green
A former model, Tamara Green appears on NBC's “Today” show in 2005 to say that Cosby groped and fondled her in her L.A. apartment in the 1970s after immobilizing her with what he said was cold medicine.
1970s
Colleen Hughes
Former American Airlines flight attendant Colleen Hughes said she met Cosby on a flight to Los Angeles in the 1970s. She said she was at a hotel room when he gave her champagne after pouring it into her Gucci shoe. Hughes alleged that she woke up several hours later, with Cosby gone.
She said sometime later she again encountered Cosby on a flight. Hughes said he did not recognize her until she said she confronted him. Hughes spoke at a news conference on Aug. 12, 2015.
1970s
Linda Ridgeway
Linda Ridgeway, a 1970s movie actress who appeared with the late actor Charles Bronson in the 1972 film “The Mechanic,” said Cosby assaulted her in an office as he interviewed her for a part.
"I felt Cosby's left hand gently grab my long hair behind my head, his giant frame blocked the door,” she told reporters at a news conference with her attorney Gloria Allred.
1971
Stars in his first feature film
While his career is mostly centered around television, Cosby stars in the film "Man and Boy," about a former Union soldier trying to make a new life in the Arizona territory.
1972-1985
'Fat Albert'
Cosby creates and voices characters on the animated series "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.”
1973
Helen Hayes
During a December 2014 news conference with other accusers, Helen Hayes says she met Cosby in the summer of 1973 at a celebrity tennis tournament in Pebble Beach where Cosby followed her and her friends around. Hayes alleges that Cosby grabbed her breasts.
1973
Kathy McKee
Kathy McKee, bottom center, a casting agent and actress, tells The Times that she and Cosby met up in Detroit. She had stayed to see her parents after performing in a show with Sammy Davis Jr., whom she was dating. McKee had known Cosby for years, appearing on the "The Bill Cosby Show" in 1971. Cosby asked her to pick up ribs and take him to a boat party. When she arrived at the St. Regis Hotel, she says he appeared wearing a robe and a cap, and that he raped her. The whole incident took 60 seconds. She never confronted Cosby, never told Davis and never went to the police. "He just assumed, I'm Bill Cosby," McKee told The Times. "I'm the No. 1 star in the world. I can do what I want, take what I want. That's the way it's been in this business."
1974
Judy Huth
In December 2014, Judy Huth files a lawsuit against Cosby, alleging he took her and a friend to the Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was 15 years old, and sexually assaulted her. After her lawsuit is filed, prosecutors question Cosby but decline to file charges based on the statute of limitations.
1974
Becomes Jell-O spokesman
Cosby becomes a high-paid Jell-O pitchman. He last appeared in a Jell-O ad in 1999.
1975
Marcella Tate
Marcella Tate was a 27-year-old model when she met Cosby in 1975. She alleges in an April 2015 news conference that he called her one day asking for a ride from the airport to the Playboy Mansion, where he gave her a drink she believes was drugged. She woke up to him beside her, "and it didn't appear he was wearing anything."
1975
Margie Shapiro
Margie Shapiro was 19 and working in a doughnut shop in Santa Monica when she met Cosby, who was shooting a film nearby. She alleges in a March 27, 2015, news conference that Cosby invited her to the Playboy Mansion and got her to take a pill for losing a game of pinball. She said she then woke up to Cosby having sex with her. She told her family but not the police. "I was confused and at a loss because I could not believe that anyone would believe me over Bill Cosby," she said.
1976
Therese Serignese
Named in documents as a "Jane Doe," Therese Serignese comes forward in November 2014, accusing Cosby of drugging and assaulting her in 1976 when she was 19.
1977
Walk of Fame
Cosby gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1977
Sarita Butterfield
Butterfield told New York Magazine that she drew Cosby's attention after appearing on the cover of Playboy in 1977. Cosby invited her to a Christmas Eve dinner where he cornered her alone in the guesthouse, groped her and tried to kiss her. Butterfield said she had to fend him off.
1978 and 1980
Patricia Leary Steuer
Steuer, 59, met Cosby at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1978 when she was 22. He was getting his doctorate in education and she was working at the university after having earned her bachelor's in music there. She told The Times she heard Cosby speak at an educator's conference and then saw him on campus the next day and thanked him for his speech.
He took her to a banquet that evening and for a drink, where he expressed interest in helping her launch her singing career. He then invited her to a dinner party at the family home in Shelburne Falls, Mass., which turned out to be just a dinner for two, Steuer said. She got sick after half a drink, and woke up naked in a bed hours later. Cosby was standing over her, told her she got sick, passed out and he had to wash her dress.
“And I believed him, I was so humiliated I thought I had embarrassed myself,” Steuer said. "I thought he'd never call again.”
But Cosby did call, checking in on her every few months, paying for an acting class and for a gym membership, because he said she needed to lose weight to have a career on screen.
She went to two events with him without incident until he invited her to go to Atlantic City, N.J., in 1980. After she arrived, he asked her to visit his penthouse suite but wouldn't let her in the door unless she took a white pill he was holding that would “relax her,” Steuer said. She said she passed out and woke up feeling as if she had been penetrated. This time she confronted Cosby. She said he called her ungrateful and they never spoke again. Steuer was one of 13 Jane Does who corroborated Andrea Constand's story in a civil suit against Cosby in 2005. She decided to reveal her name to New York Magazine after a deposition Cosby gave in that case became public.
1979 or 1980
Joyce Emmons
Joyce Emmons, a comedy club manager, met Cosby in 1977 or 1978 when her “unusual laugh” cracked him up during a live routine in Las Vegas, Emmons told The Times. Cosby made a pass at her that same night, but she told him no and they became “immediate friends.” She began to visit Las Vegas whenever Cosby was performing, always bringing employees from her club, the Laff Stop in Newport Beach.
She told The Times Cosby gave her a white pill he described as just a little stronger than a Tylenol for a headache sometime between 1979 and 1980. She said she woke up naked with Cosby’s friend, whom she had rebuffed the night before. She confronted both men. She said Cosby admitted he had given her a Quaalude and laughed at her.
“He was wonderful to me; I never thought he would do that,” Emmons said.
1979
PJ Masten
Masten was a Playboy bunny in her 20s when she met Cosby. She alleges that he drugged and raped her at the Whitehall Hotel in Chicago in 1979. She says he gave her a cocktail before dinner: “I took two sips and the next thing I remember I woke up naked with him next to me naked. I was bruised, battered and hysterical." She left immediately.
"This was not a sexual encounter, this was an extreme act of violence," Masten told The Times. "There was blood involved."
Masten said her supervisor told her not to tell anyone, because no one would believe her.
1981
Linda Kirkpatrick
Linda Kirkpatrick met Cosby at a tennis tournament in Las Vegas in 1981. She alleges he invited her to his show where he gave her a drink. She says she next remembers him kissing her in his dressing room. She says Cosby later apologized, and invited her back, only to forcibly grab and kiss her again. Kirkpatrick spoke at a January 2015 news conference.
1982
Renita Chaney Hill
Renita Chaney Hill tells a Pittsburgh television station in November 2014 that she believes Cosby repeatedly drugged and likely sexually assaulted her between the ages of 15 and 19. The two met on the set of his educational show "Picture Pages." She says Cosby would fly her out to mentor her as an actress. She says he would make her a drink and that she couldn't remember what happened after she drank. She refused his invitations four years later.
1982
Janice Dickinson
In May 2015, former model Janice Dickinson sues Cosby for defamation after his legal team accuses her of lying about an incident in 1982 in which she says he sexually assaulted her. In 2006, Dickinson described Cosby as a “bad guy” who “preys on women” during a radio interview with Howard Stern. In 2014, Dickinson tells Entertainment Weekly that Cosby drugged and raped her. “The last thing I remember was Bill Cosby in a patchwork robe, dropping his robe and getting on top of me. And I remember a lot of pain."
1982
Janice Baker Kinney
Janice Baker Kinney was 24 when she met Cosby while working at Harrah's in Reno in 1982. She alleges in an April 23, 2015, news conference that she was visiting Cosby's home with a friend when he gave her some pills, and she woke up naked in bed. "As he opened the door for me, he stopped it part of the way before I could get out and said these exact words: 'This is between me and you' and he put his finger to his mouth like a 'shhhh' sign," Kinney said. "I told him that I was not planning on alerting the media."
1984
Beth Ferrier
Identified as Jane Doe No. 5, Beth Ferrier went public in 2005, alleging that as a model in New York in 1984, she met Cosby and they had a brief affair. She alleges Cosby drugged her coffee during an encounter in Denver and she woke up hours later in the backseat of her car with her clothes disheveled.
1984
Heidi Thomas
In March 2015, Heidi Thomas tells CNN that she met Cosby in Reno in 1984 for a four-day coaching lesson on acting. She was breaking into modeling. She says he asked her to pretend to be intoxicated and gave her a drink. She says she woke up with him naked and forcing himself onto her.
1984-1992
Creates and stars in 'The Cosby Show'
Cosby plays Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable in "The Cosby Show." At the height of its popularity, the show was the most-watched program on TV for five straight seasons and drew more than 60 million viewers. The anchor for NBC's signature Thursday night comedy block was considered groundbreaking in its crossover appeal and in its depiction of a stable, upwardly mobile black family living in Brooklyn, N.Y.
1985
Wins Golden Globe
"The Cosby Show" wins a Golden Globe for best television series. The following year, Cosby wins a Golden Globe for best actor for "The Cosby Show." He is nominated five times over his career.
1985
Barbara Bowman
Barbara Bowman is one of 13 Jane Does giving depositions or statements in support of Andrea Constand, a Temple University employee who brought a suit against Cosby. She is identified in 2006 by a local Philadelphia magazine and tells her story to other publications. Bowman, a former actress and model, says that Cosby won her trust when she was an 18-year-old aspiring actress in 1985 and drugged and assaulted her multiple times in Reno and Atlantic City.
1980s
Rebecca Lynn Neal
At a January 2015 news conference, Lynn Neal, front left, says she was invited to Cosby's show, where she says he drugged and raped her in his dressing room. "He built my trust by pretending to be a friend," she said. "He drugged and raped me. He betrayed my trust and took advantage of me."
Mid-1980's
Beverly Johnson
A top model during the 1970s and '80s, Beverly Johnson pens a December 2015 Vanity Fair article saying Cosby drugged and assaulted her during a time when she was being considered for a role on "The Cosby Show." “I knew by the second sip of the drink Cosby had given me that I'd been drugged -- and drugged good.” She wrote she screamed obscenities at him and alleged he yanked her down a flight of stairs with a force she feared would break her neck. She did not describe the assault as sexual.
1987
Sammie Mays
At a May 2015 news conference, Sammie Mays, who was a writer from Mississippi covering the New Orleans National Assn. of Television Program Executives Convention in January 1987, said she had asked Cosby for an interview. She says that Cosby gave her a drugged drink, and she woke up to find her shirt unbuttoned and her belt clearly tampered with.
1986
Chelan Lasha
Chelan Lasha appears at a December 2014 news conference with two other alleged victims, Beth Ferrier and Helen Hayes. Lasha says she met Cosby at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1986 when she was a 17-year-old aspiring model. Lasha says Cosby gave her a pill and sexually assaulted her before she blacked out. He then gave her $1,500 to spend on herself and her grandmother.
1987
Creates spinoff 'A Different World'
Cosby creates "A Different World," a "Cosby Show" spin-off initially featuring his TV daughter Denise Huxtable, played by Lisa Bonet, above center, attending a historically black college. Bonet leaves the show after two seasons, but the show runs until 1993.
1987
Creates, stars in flop 'Leonard Part 6'
Cosby starred and produced the disastrous "Leonard Part 6," about an alien-fighting secret agent, a film that received some of the year's worst reviews and earned multiple Razzie awards.
1987
Helen Gumpel
Helen Gumpel, a former model and actress who appeared in one episode of "The Cosby Show," holds a news conference in February 2015 to say Cosby made sexual advances and lewd gestures toward her while she was on the set of the show. She used the name Helen Selby when she was working.
The year on this item was corrected to reflect that “The Cosby Show” Gumpel appeared on was likely filmed in late 1987.
Late 1980s
Jewel Allison
Jewel Allison tells the Washington Post that Cosby sexually assaulted her in the late 1980s in Las Vegas after he gave her wine "that tasted awful." “I didn't tell because I didn't want to let black America down,” Allison wrote. “It took me two decades to gain the courage to reveal it publicly.”
Late 1980s
Jennifer "Kaya" Thompson
In an interview with the Associated Press published in March, Jennifer "Kaya" Thompson says that as an aspiring actress and model in the late 1980s, she fended off unwanted sexual advances from Cosby, and that Cosby once gave her $700 after she performed a sex act. Her parents, William and Judy Thompson, say they met with Cosby when their daughter was 17, and that he promised to help their daughter, reassuring them she would be fine living in an apartment with other models as she launched her career.
1989
Lise-Lotte Lublin
At a February 2015 news conference, Lise-Lotte Lublin says that as a 23-year-old model, she met Cosby at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and he asked her to perform an improvisation to evaluate her acting skills. She says he gave her two alcoholic drinks. When she awoke, Lublin said, she was home and her car was in the driveway. At first, she believed she had a reaction to the alcohol because she didn't drink much. After hearing similar allegations from other women, she concluded something nefarious had happened to her.
1989
Eden Tirl
Actress Eden Tirl, who appeared on “The Cosby Show,” said she was locked in a dressing room with Cosby during a taping of his show in 1989 when he assaulted her. Her accusation came out at a news conference on Aug. 12, 2015.
Early 1990s
Lili Bernard
Lili Bernard met Cosby as a guest star on "The Cosby Show." She alleges in a May 1, 2015, news conference that Cosby mentored her, then drugged and raped her. She last saw him on her birthday in 1992, when he allegedly told her, "As far as I'm concerned, Bernard, you're dead. Do you hear me? You're dead, Bernard. You don't exist. I never wanna see your face again. Now get the hell out of here!" She said she told her talent agents, family and friends.
1990s
Kacey
Offering only her first name, Kacey tells reporters at a news conference that she met Cosby while working for the William Morris Agency. During her six years with the agency, she said, she developed a "cordial professional relationship" with Cosby. At one point, Kacey said, she met with Cosby for lunch at his bungalow at the Hotel Bel-Air. Food and wine were brought in, and Cosby gave her a large white pill to help her relax, she said. Kacey alleges she awoke later in a bed with Cosby wearing only an open robe.
1991
Inducted into the Hall of Fame
Cosby is inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
1992
Angela Leslie
Angela Leslie, an actress, alleges during an appearance on the "Today Show" in November 2014 that Cosby assaulted her in Las Vegas in 1992. She says he asked her to act intoxicated and then got on top of her. She pushed him off and he asked her to leave the room.
1996
Stars in 'Jack'
"Jack," with Robin Williams, is Cosby's last feature film to date. The few films Cosby did earlier did not perform well.
1996-2000
'Cosby'
Cosby and Phylicia Rashad, the actress who played his wife on "The Cosby Show," star in this sitcom for four seasons. Cosby played Hilton Lucas, a forced retiree.
1998
Receives Kennedy Center Honors
Cosby receives the Kennedy Center Honors. At a White House reception before the ceremony, President Clinton praises Cosby for his "remarkable gift" of being able to "look inside the human experience in all its depth and diversity and hold it up to the universal light of laughter -- in so doing, to allow all of us to return to our childhoods."
1998-2000
Host of 'Kids Say the Darndest Things'
Cosby hosts the TV show “Kids Say the Darndest Things,” a revival of “Art Linkletter's House Party.”
2002
Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom
Cosby is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, along with baseball legend Hank Aaron, left.
2004
Delivers the 'pound cake' speech
Cosby gives a speech as part of an NAACP commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education segregation case. He blames petty crime on bad parenting: "These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake! Then we all run out and are outraged, 'The cops shouldn't have shot him.' What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand? I wanted a piece of pound cake just as bad as anybody else. And I looked at it and I had no money. And something called parenting said if you get caught with it you're going to embarrass your mother. Not you're going to get your butt kicked. No. You're going to embarrass your mother. You're going to embarrass your family." He also brought up single mothers and young people wearing their pants too low. The speech drew the attention of comedian Hannibal Buress, and helped shape the judgment releasing his 2005 deposition in Andrea Constand's lawsuit against him, as the judge ruled the public moralizing made him a public figure.
2004
Andrea Constand
In 2005, Andrea Constand tells police that Cosby assaulted her a year earlier at his mansion in Cheltenham, Penn. The former Temple University employee said he invited her home after a dinner, gave her pills for stress and tension, then helped her to a sofa when she became dizzy and sick. She awoke with her clothing in disarray. She said she drove herself home and decided not to report what happened to police because of Cosby's fame and her position as a women's basketball administrator. Instead, she said she contacted a lawyer. In July 2015, a judge released court documents revealing that Cosby admitted in 2005 that he got Quaaludes, a hypnotic sedative used recreationally as a party drug, with the intent of giving them to young women he wanted to have sex with. In the court documents, he said he had given Constand three half-pills of Benadryl but did not admit to giving her Quaaludes.
2005
Assault allegations are first made public
The sexual assault allegations that resurfaced against Bill Cosby first became public in 2005 after Andrea Constand's lawsuit.
2008
Chloe Goins
Chloe Goins, a model, meets with Los Angeles police in January to discuss her allegations that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 2008. She is the first woman accusing Cosby of sexual misconduct whose case may fall within the statute of limitations. In a Jan. 16, 2015, statement, Cosby's attorney, Martin D. Singer, writes that Cosby was in New York the night that Goins says he was at the Playboy Mansion.
2013
Returns to stand-up
Cosby does his first stand-up special in 30 years.
Oct. 16, 2014
Hannibal Buress stand-up routine goes viral
Hannibal Buress, during a stand-up performance in Philadelphia that goes viral, renews the allegations against Cosby in a sketch about what he saw as Cosby's hypocritical crusade against hip-hop culture and the unraveling of the black family. Cosby had made a speech at the NAACP's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education segregation case. “Bill Cosby has the ... smuggest old black man public persona that I hate," Buress says. "He gets on TV: 'Pull your pants up, black people, I was on TV in the '80s. I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom.' Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches. ... I guess I want to just at least make it weird for you to watch 'Cosby Show' reruns.” Within weeks, both Netflix and NBC had scrapped projects with Cosby, stand-up performances were canceled around the country, and TV Land pulled "The Cosby Show" from its lineup.
Nov. 20, 2014
New allegations pour in
A flood of allegations begin surfacing. Currently, about 45 women have said they were assaulted by Cosby.
Dec. 30, 2015
Cosby charged in 2004 Pennsylvania case
Pennsylvania authorities charge Bill Cosby with sexually assaulting a woman at his home 12 years ago — the first criminal charges brought against the comedian.
In bringing the case, Montgomery County Dist. Atty. Risa Vetri Ferman overruled her predecessor, who declined to charge Cosby in 2005 when Temple University employee Andrea Constand first told police that the comic drugged her and violated her by putting his hands down her pants at his mansion in suburban Philadelphia.
He is scheduled to be arraigned in the afternoon.
Jan. 6, 2016
L.A. County prosecutors won't charge Bill Cosby in two sexual assault cases
Los Angeles prosecutors on Wednesday declined to bring criminal charges against Bill Cosby in the only two open cases locally in which he is accused of sexually assaulting women.
The move comes less than a week after prosecutors in Pennsylvania filed the first charges against Cosby, accusing him of drugging and sexually assaulting a 31-year-old woman.
February 3, 2016
Judge rules Bill Cosby sexual assault case in Pennsylvania can proceed
Bill Cosby arrives at court in Pennsylvania.
A bid by Bill Cosby’s lawyers to have the sexual assault charges against the entertainer dismissed was rejected by a judge here Wednesday evening, clearing the way for a potential trial.
The judge, Steven O’Neill, said that he found “no basis to grant the relief request” by the attorneys. They had mounted a case over the last two days arguing that former Montgomery County Dist. Atty. Bruce Castor had made a non-prosecution agreement with the comedian’s lawyer more than a decade ago.
February 25, 2016
Bill Cosby drops lawsuit against model who accused him of drugging her
Bill Cosby has dropped a defamation lawsuit against supermodel Beverly Johnson, who accused the comedian of drugging her in the 1980s.
Court records show Cosby's lawyers dropped the suit Feb. 19.
March 24, 2016
Bill Cosby ordered to stand trial in 2004 sexual assault case
There is enough evidence that Bill Cosby assaulted a woman just over a decade ago to bring a criminal case against him to trial, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Once a symbol of wholesome packaged food and family values, Cosby, now a hobbled 78-year-old, sat rubbing his chin through hours of graphic testimony about drugs and sexual encounter
It marked a dramatic turn for the one-time icon, a major step in the only criminal case to spring from dozens of accusations that have ended his career and upended his legacy. If convicted on three sex crime counts, Cosby faces 10 years in prison.
March 29, 2016
Bill Cosby ordered to stand trial in 2004 sexual assault case
Janice Dickinson, left, and her attorney, Lisa Bloom, speak during a news conference at a motions hearing in her lawsuit against comedian Bill Cosby in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Janice Dickinson’s defamation lawsuit against Bill Cosby should proceed, a judge ruled Tuesday, saying that a trial could determine whether the model’s claims that Cosby drugged and raped her three decades ago were true.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Debre Katz Weintraub ruled that a jury can decide the credibility of Dickinson's allegations and whether a statement by Cosby's former lawyer that branded her a liar amounted to defamation.
In making the ruling, the judge said she was not determining the credibility of either party’s claims but was deciding instead whether the matter was worthy of trial.
APRIL 26, 2016
Cosby loses bid to have Riverside woman’s lawsuit dismissed
A Los Angeles judge rules that a molestation lawsuit against Bill Cosby -- brought by a Riverside woman who accused the entertainer of sexually assaulting her when she was 15 -- may go forward. Judy Huth's suit alleges that Cosby gave her alcohol and then sexually abused her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974. Cosby's attorneys argue unsuccessfully before L.A. County Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan that the case should be thrown out for various procedural reasons, including the statute of limitations.
SEPT. 28, 2016
California eliminates statute of limitations for some sex crimes
California eliminates its statute of limitations for some rape cases after Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation filed in the wake of sexual assault allegations against comedian Bill Cosby. Senate Bill 813, filed by state Sen. Connie Leyva (D-Chino), amends the penal code so that some sex crimes, including rape, forcible sodomy and molestation of a child, can be prosecuted regardless of how long ago the crime occurred.
FEB. 24, 2017
Judge rules that only one of 13 Cosby accusers can testify
A Pennsylvania judge rules that only one woman who has accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault may testify against him in his upcoming trial, dealing a setback to the lone viable criminal case against the entertainer. Prosecutors were hoping the testimony of 13 alleged victims would help persuade a jury that Cosby was guilty of assaulting another woman at his estate near Philadelphia in 2004.
APRIL 10, 2017
Cosby's 'Little Bill' children's books make list of most banned books
The American Library Assn. releases its list of the most banned and challenged books in 2016, with Cosby joining perennially challenged authors John Green and David Levithan. Cosby's “Little Bill” children's book series ranked No. 9 on the list. Its inclusion is unusual because challenges to the books stemmed not from their content, but from allegations of sexual assault leveled against the comedian by a number of women.
MAY 16, 2017
Cosby says he won't testify at trial
Bill Cosby says he won't testify in his sexual assault trial and is speaking out against his accusers, suggesting that racism is fueling the misconduct allegations leveled against him. "I just truly believe that some of it may very well be that," the embattled comedian says in an interview with Sirius XM host Michael Smerconish.
MAY 24, 2017
Jury selected for Cosby's trial
Lawyers select a 12-member jury in Cosby’s criminal trial. It consists of four white women, six white men, one black woman and one black man, according to media reports. The racial composition of the jury became an issue after Cosby gave a radio interview in early May suggesting racism could be a factor in accusations made against him.
JUNE 6, 2017
Andrea Constand testifies
Cosby now faces trial on charges that he drugged and sexually assaulted Andrea Constand in 2004. Taking the witness stand, Colstand delivers a dramatic testimony that offers a full account, under oath, of a narrative similar to what other women had expressed only in scattered op-eds and TV appearances, often about encounters dating back many decades.
JUNE 15, 2017
Jury deadlocked and can't reach verdict
Jurors told Judge Steven T. O'Neill they are deadlocked and can't reach a verdict in Bill Cosby's criminal trial. O'Neill sent them back to the jury room to try to break the stalemate. Cosby's defense moved immediately for a mistrial, but the judged denied the motion. If found guilty, Cosby could face up to 10 years on each count. A big question will be whether O'Neill revokes Cosby's bond and sends the entertainer to jail.
JUNE 17, 2017
Mistrial declared in Cosby's trial
Judge Steven T. O'Neill declared a mistrial in the case against Bill Cosby after a jury was unable to come to a unanimous decision. Prosecutors immediately said they would retry the case, and O'Neill said he would try to schedule a new trial within 120 days. The ruling brings to an inconclusive finale one of the most high-profile sexual assault trials in years.
APRIL 26, 2018
Cosby found guilty in retrial
In the April retrial, a jury of seven men and five women found Cosby guilty of assault with lack of consent, penetration while the victim was unconscious, and assault after impairing the victim with an intoxicant.
Cosby posted $1-million bail was confined to his home outside Philadelphia for five months before sentencing, fitted with a GPS monitor and limited to travel only to visit his attorneys or for medical reasons.
SEPT. 25, 2018
Cosby gets 3 to 10 years in prison
Bill Cosby is sentenced to three to 10 years in prison.
Rejecting the defense argument that Cosby was too frail to handle time behind bars, Judge Steven O’Neill ordered the 81-year-old entertainer to serve no less than three years and no more than 10 years in prison and to register as a sex offender, a label that will follow him for the rest of his life.
"Mr. Cosby, this all circles back to you," the judge said as he imposed the sentence. "The day has come. The time has come."
UPDATES:
11:33 a.m., Sept. 25: This timeline was updated with Cosby being found guilty in his retrial, and his sentencing.
7:50 a.m., June 17: This timeline was updated with a mistrial being declared in Bill Cosby’s trial.
9:30 a.m., June 15, 2017: This timeline was updated with the jury reporting that it was deadlocked in Bill Cosby’s sex assault trial.
2 p.m., June 3, 2017: This timeline was updated with developments in the criminal case against Bill Cosby since April of 2016.
This timeline was originally published on April 26, 2016.
FOR THE RECORD
July 28, 11 a.m.: An earlier version of this article reported that Victoria Valentino accused Cosby of assaulting her in 1970. She said the incident occurred in 1969.
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