Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images(NORRISTOWN, Pennsylvania) — Anticipation inside and outside a Pennsylvania courthouse was growing Monday morning as Bill Cosby arrived for sentencing as the first major celebrity convicted in the #MeToo era for sexually abusing a woman.
When the Montgomery County Court in Norristown opened its doors at 9 a.m., there was already a line of people outside waiting to get a seat in the courtroom for Cosby’s sentencing.
Inside the courthouse, across a marble balcony overlooking an atrium from where news reporters were lined up 30 deep waiting to get the best seats in court, one of the jurors who convicted the 81-year-old Cosby this spring was spotted slipping into a court office.
He declined to comment when approached by an ABC News reporter.
Outside, as a phalanx of camera crews lined the path, Cosby walked from his black SUV into the courthouse. One of those outside the courthouse waiting for Cosby was a frequent protester Bird Milliken, who came with an effigy of Cosby in a shopping cart with a bright pink sign around the neck, reading, “America’s First #MeToo Conviction,” followed by the words. “Guilty, Guilty, Guilty.”
Milliken, also known the “Bubble Lady” for the bubble machine she totes around, is an ardent supporter of Cosby’s accusers. During the second trial, she got Cosby victim Andrea Constand – the primary accuser in both trials – to autograph her arm.
Milliken later had the signature tattooed to her arm permanently.
Cosby was convicted in April on three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault stemming from drugging and molesting Constand in his suburban Philadelphia home 14 years ago.
The conviction came about 11 months after a mistrial was declared in Cosby’s first trial when a jury failed to reach a verdict.
The jury of seven men and five women deliberated a little over 12 hours before reaching a unanimous verdict in the case.
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