Convicted Bill Cosby is due to be sentenced for his sexual assault in a two-day proceeding starting on Monday.
Once known as “America’s Dad”, the 81-year-old comedian was found guilty in April of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004.
The court in Norristown, Pennsylvania, has scheduled two days for the sentencing to give witnesses the opportunity to speak before the judge.
Cosby, who has been under house arrest since his conviction, will also be offered the chance to make a statement before Judge Steven O’Neill hands him his sentence.
His lawyers have said he will appeal the conviction, which observers say could push the case up to Pennsylvania’s highest court and take several years.
More than 50 women have come forward to publicly accuse Cosby of sexual assault spanning several decades.
But Cosby’s conviction on three counts of aggravated indecent assault refers solely to accusations from Andrea Constand, a former employee at Temple University in Philadelphia, Cosby’s alma mater.
Constand said she had viewed him as a “mentor” before he abused her.
In June 2017, she described being given pills that left her “frozen” and unable to stop Cosby from assaulting her.
“I wasn’t able to fight it in any way,” she told the court. “I wanted it to stop.”
Cosby faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison.
