we are now part of the tsunami of women's power and justice. we're not going away. >> tonight, fall of an icon. comedian bill cosby found guilty of sexual assault, facing years in prison. in the first major legal victory of the "me too" era. >> bill cosby, three words for you. guilty, guilty, guilty. >> once dubbed america's dad for his cosby show character, celebrated for his clean comedy, honored as a philanthropist. and now disgraced. more than 60 accusers who would not be silenced. >> he put a pill next to my wine glass, "here, take this, this will make you feel better." >> he said, no, no, you need to drink it to loosen up."

>> he said, "just relax, have a drink first." >> uniting in outrage to bring down a legend. this special edition of "nightline," "bill cosby: guilty" will be right back.

this is a special edition of "nightline." "bill cosby: guilty." >> good evening. i'm linsey davis in norristown, pennsylvania. just hours ago in the courthouse

behind me, many in disbelief. i've been covering the bill cosby for years now and never experienced a moment like the shock we witnessed today. the entertainment legend, once the face of family values, a pioneer who broke barriers for an entire race, found guilty of sexual assault. even those who wanted this outcome admitted to me they didn't expect it. >> we are vindicated. we are validated. and we are now part of the tsunami of women's power and justice. >> it is also a victory for womanhood. and it is a victory for all sexual assault survivors. >> justice has been done. >> reporter: a chorus of women rejoicing today as comedian bill cosby was found guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault. >> special report -- >> breaking news in bill cosby's sexual assault retrial, there has been a verdict -- >> icon bill cosby now a convicted sex offender.

>> reporter: over the years more than 60 women have accused the entertainer of sexual misconduct. dozens of them filling the cover of "new york" magazine in 2015. >> we can't 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. >> bill cosby, three words for you. guilty, guilty, guilty! thank you. >> reporter: a jury of seven men and five women taking 14 hours to unanimously decide cosby drugged and sexually assaulted andrea constand at his pennsylvania home in 2004. >> this is a life-altering experience for any woman. any victim. and the person who i think needs to be heralded for what she has done is andrea. >> reporter: the former temple university employee says cosby gave her three pills followed by

wine, which left her frozen. >> andrea constand came here to norristown for justice. >> reporter: the verdict was met with a burst of tears and joy. some cosby accusers sobbed and were ultimately escorted out of the courtroom. as cosby himself was escorted out of the courthouse, he raised his cane in defiant response to supporters, while others jeered. one person shouting "rapist." >> you're a pervert! >> reporter: cosby's lawyers vow they will appeal. >> we don't think mr. cosby's guilty of anything and the fight is not over. >> mr. cosby, are you prepared to go to prison? >> reporter: a news helicopter following the disgraced star as he left court taking him back to his pennsylvania home. >> if bill cosby weren't famous, if he were 40 years old and convict the of three counts of felony sexual assault, would he be sleeping at home tonight? i don't think so. >> reporter: cosby has denied any nonconsensual relations. he faces up to ten years for

each count. could find the 80-year-old spending some of his final years behind bars. abc news' chris francis was in the courtroom and says the verdict seemed to take cosby by surprise. >> the verdicts left virtually everybody in shock, seemgly including cosby and his team, who sat stone-faced for two or three minutes as the verdict was read and the jury was polled. >> reporter: the bail set at $1 million, cosby exploding in anger as the prosecutor tried to revoke and it send him straight to prison. cosby may need to register as a sex offender, a stark contrast to the man who's been called america's dad, star of the 1980s hit comedy "the cosby show." he was known for a wholesome standup routine. rumors of cosby's alleged behavior had swirled for years. but the spark that seemed to ignite an explosion came from another comedian, hannibal buress. >> i can talk down to you because i have a successful

sitcom! yeah, you raped women, bill cosby, so -- >> reporter: when this clip went viral in 2014, a flood of women came forward with strikingly similar stories that span decades and seemed to follow a pattern. cosby allegedly drugged his victims then assaulted them while they were passed out. >> i knew i had been drugged. >> he had no right to do that. >> reporter: many of those women came to the trial, including victoria valentino, who traveled all the way from california to attend the weeks-long trial. >> you could feel the electricity in the air. when they said verdict, guilty, oh my god. unbelievable. unbelievable. >> you didn't think this day was going to come? >> oh, no. no. i really didn't. >> reporter: valentino says cosby trucked and raped her in 1969, when she was 27 years old. she says at the time, she didn't report the incident out of shame and humiliation. >> yes, i was. >> why was it so important to be here? >> once you find your voice,

there's no stopping you. the floodgates are open. >> reporter: lily bernard, another cosby accuser, has been in court every single day for the retrial and his first trial last spring. >> i looked at that jury, there's this one young black man who i looked upon as my son. and i know the disappointment that he felt in looking at a beloved black male iconic father figure and being able to yet render a guilty verdict. i thank him. >> reporter: the woman who started it all, andrea constand, stoic as the verdict was read, smiling as she left the courtroom, hugging other accusers. >> 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. >> reporter: constand says she reported the 2004 assault one year after it happened. but authorities at the time said they didn't have enough credible and admissible evidence.

constand sued cosby and reached a confidential settlement, later revealed to be nearly $3.4 million after cosby admitted in a deposition to giving young women quaaludes in order to have sex with them. in 2015, parts of that deposition for andrea constand's civil suit began trickling out. detectives interviewed constand, reopening a criminal investigation just as the 12-year statute of limitations was set to expire. >> the defendant's deposition showed the stark contrast between bill cosby the public moralist, and bill cosby the subject of serious allegations, and perhaps criminal conduct. >> reporter: but constand's first case would end in a mistrial. bobby dugan was one of those original jurors. he says after six agonizing days, the jury reached a breaking point. >> the most intense moment, i think, was when there was about four people crying in the room. one was out in the hallway

pacing, visibly upset. just couldn't handle it. >> reporter: the then-79-year-old comedian walked out of court that day a free man but the d.a. immediately promised to retry the case. >> she's entitled to a verdict in this case. >> reporter: this time around one of the biggest differences, the prosecution convinced the judge cosby's prior bad acts were relevant. the testimony of the five other witnesses showing he had an m.o. with accusers linking arms to get a conviction, the case is seen as the first major legal victory of the #metoo movement. >> today, this jury has shown that the -- what the "me too" movement is saying, that women are worthy of being believed. >> reporter: reactions to the verdict pouring out on social media with celebrities like rose mcgowan, who accused harvey weinstein of rape, taking to twitter, "cosby is guilty, i'm sorry if you loved a lie." tarana burke, founder of the

too" movement -- >> part of the defense was this was a mob mentality this "me too" movement, this "time's up" movement, he's being swept up, it's a witch hunt. well, the jury didn't buy that. the jury said, no, no, no, no. this wasn't a witch hunt. this is you being held accountable for your behavior. when we come back, the fall of an icon. from america's sitcom dad on "the cosby show" to a disgraced sex offender.

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this special edition of "nightline," "bill cosby: guilty" continues. >> it is a stunning fall from the loftiest of heights. bill cosby wasn't just an entertainer, he was a role model. at one time a hero in the black community who broke barriers in real life and on screen. portraying a dignity and affluence that had previously been denied to black characters. but tonight that legacy has been reduced to one word. guilty. it is 1984. and the very first episode of "the cosby show" is premiering. >> let's put on some music around here. ♪ >> reporter: it is the show that would catapult its star and

creator bill cosby into america's collective consciousness, branding him one of the most famous and beloved tv dads. we knew him for his comedy. ♪ >> reporter: his shows. >> hey, hey, hey, it's fat albert! >> reporter: and the jell-o. >> you know how the kids love jell-o pudding. >> he was an enormously admired man. it seems there was so much about him we really didn't know. >> reporter: heidi thomas knew a different man. in 1984, the same year the show launched, she alleges bill cosby sexually assaulted her. >> my name is heidi thomas. i was 24 years old when i first met bill cosby. >> reporter: as seen in a&e's documentary "cosby: the women speak," thomas alleges cosby drugged her when she was invited to reno for acting coaching. >> he said, let's try a cold read. so he handed me a script. and the person i'm supposed to be clearly is intoxicated.

i do remember him saying, heidi, have you ever been drunk? and i said, no, not really. and he said, well, how do you expect to play a role like this? so he poured a glass and he said, all right, this is your prop. you're going to sip on your wine. and i literally -- i don't remember anything other than one sip. >> reporter: she says the next four days are a drug-induced blur. but she says she does remember mental snapshots. >> my clothes were on, his were not. and i was lying down. and he was forcing himself in my mouth. then the next snapshot is i hear his voice basically telling me that we're going to be doing this again. and i thought, this isn't why i'm here. >> reporter: cosby has denied any nonconsensual relations. she waited until three years ago to tell her story publicly in

detail. >> i knew that if i made this allegation against the squeaky-clean bill cosby, who's she going to believe? in the battle of public opinion alone, he was teflon. >> what's bobo's temperature? >> zero. >> reporter: because of his adoring public he was not only a guest in their homes, he was already a cultural trail blazer. >> hello, sir. >> reporter: in 1965, cosby broke through as the first black actor to star in a lead role in a network show "i spy." and in the 1980s, the eponymous "cosby show" streaming into over 20,000 households each thursday night, the most-watched show of the decade. >> he made people, especially in the african-american community, feel that the depiction of a dad who was a doctor, who was married to a wife who was very

accomplished and who he loved, depicted something about themselves. they were the huxtables. >> reporter: post-cosby show, he transitioned from everyone's favorite father to perhaps everyone's crotchty grandfather, especially in the black community. >> everybody knows it's important to speak english, except these knuckleheads. >> he was sharply critical with the way some people were bringing up their children. sharply critical the way some young people were behaving. >> reporter: before he cleaned up his image, there have been signs of a darker side to cosby, at least in his comedy routines. >> you know anything about spanish fly? >> reporter: one of his more popular gags he started in the '60s, a joke about giving a woman an afro dees i am. >> there's this girl, crazy mary, he put should in her drink, man. >> reporter: in 2015, to the 13 women sitting down for that a&e documentary "cosby: the women speak," there's nothing funny about cosby's alleged behavior. >> he put a pill next to my wine

glass "here, take this, this will make you feel better," victoria and other accusers offer shockingly similar accounts of coercion throughout the height of cosby's fame. >> he said, no, no, you need to drink it to loosen up. >> he said, just relax, have a drink first. >> reporter: alleged acts of sexual assault. >> and then all of a sudden i realized everything was very, very silent. so i opened my eyes and looked around. and he came over to me and at that point extracted his pound of flesh. if there is any question about why women don't report rape is because it's so damned humiliating. you don't want to ever talk about it again. >> reporter: i sat down with cosby in 2015. >> good to see you. >> reporter: as he promoted a nonprofit organization. he was defiant in the face of the women's claims and the effect they may have on his legacy. >> are you concerned at all that given the allegations, that that

may overshadow your message? >> it's interesting. this is a situation that's unprecedented. my family, my friends,friends,f, been in this business 52 years. and i will -- i've never seen anything like this. and reality is -- the situation. and i can't speak. >> a young person comes up to you and says, my mom says you've done some bad things. how will you answer them? if they are pressing you, are you guilty, did you do it, are the allegations true? >> i am prepared to tell this young person the truth about life. i'm not sure that they will come like that. i think that many of them say,

well, you're a hypocrite. >> reporter: but two months after that interview, a bombshell civil deposition was released. in it, the description of a 2004 encounter between cosby and andrea constand, cosby's own words creating the first real cracks in his public image. cosby's legacy at one point bolstered by the women's silence. today it has been shattered by all of their voices. >> justice has been done. >> it has to start with people stepping up and speaking out. you have to speak your truth. you have to go to the police. you must get a rape kit. you must do it. because they won't be held accountable. >> reporter: the judge now has up to 90 days to decide cosby's fate. but whether cosby spends the rest of his life in jail or not, for the women who have waited so long for this day, they say they've already been set free. >> but today, this jury has

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we need to help more tocalifornians get ahead.d, that's why antonio villaraigosa brought both parties together to balance the state budget with record investments in public schools... and new career training programs. as mayor of la, he brought police and residents together

to get illegal guns off the streets and keep kids out of gangs, and on the right path. that's antonio villaraigosa. a governor for all of california. thank you so much for watching "nightline." be sure to tune in tomorrow morning on gma when i'll have much more on the bill cosby verdict. as always, we are online on our night like facebook page. good night, america. ight, america.

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