COSBY EXTORTIONER GETS 2-YEAR PRISON TERM, APOLOGIZES TO STAR.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. The young woman who tarnished Bill Cosby's image as America's most devoted family man was sentenced to more than two years in prison Friday for trying to extort To compel or coerce, as in a confession or information, by any means serving to overcome the other's power of resistance, thus making the confession or admission involuntary. To gain by wrongful methods; to obtain in an unlawful manner, as in to compel payments by means of threats of $40 million from him by threatening to tell the tabloids she is his out-of-wedlock daughter. ``I'm so sorry,'' a sobbing Autumn Jackson, 23, said in pleading for mercy. ``I only hoped that Mr. Cosby would be here and I would be able to apologize to him in person. I let him down.'' She received 26 months for extortion, conspiracy and crossing state lines to commit a crime. She could be released to a halfway house halfway house /half·way house/ (haf´wa hous) a residence for patients (e.g., mental patients, drug addicts, alcoholics) who do not require hospitalization but who need an intermediate degree of care until they can return to the community. or confinement at home after just six months if she completes a rehabilitation program Noun 1. rehabilitation program - a program for restoring someone to good health program, programme - a system of projects or services intended to meet a public need; "he proposed an elaborate program of public works"; "working mothers rely on the day care that involves academics, physical fitness and counseling. Jackson could have gotten nearly six years, but U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones Barbara Pearl Jones (born 26 March, 1937 in Chicago) is an American athlete, who mainly competed in the 100 metres. She competed for the United States in the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland in the 4 x 100 metres where she won the gold medal with her team mates portrayed her as an unsophisticated player in a scheme devised by Jose Medina, who is awaiting sentencing on identical charges. Cosby, who denied he is her father but admitted having an affair with her mother, wasn't present in court. He said in a statement: ``The sentence imposed is measured, balanced and just. We hope that Ms. Jackson avails herself of the opportunity to enter the program suggested by the judge and that it leads to her rehabilitation.'' Jackson was accused of demanding the money Jan. 16, the day Cosby's 27-year-old son Ennis was shot to death in an apparent robbery on a Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. highway. Two days later, Jackson and Medina, 51, were arrested in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of after signing a $24 million payoff agreement with Cosby's lawyers, negotiated in an FBI sting. The two were convicted in July. Cosby has acknowledged having a sexual liaison with Jackson's mother, Shawn Upshaw, in Las Vegas in the 1970s and providing more than $100,000 in financial support over the years. He testified at the trial that he told Jackson: ``I will be for you a father figure, but I am not your father.'' The issue of paternity The state or condition of a father; the relationship of a father. English and U.S. Common Law have recognized the importance of establishing the paternity of children. was ruled irrelevant to the charges. Cosby took a paternity test paternity test n. A test using blood group identification of a mother, child, and putative father to establish the probability of paternity. paternity test, n in July to try to settle the dispute, but Jackson and her mother declined to take blood tests. Upshaw was in court but did not speak to reporters. Medina ``was clearly the architect of the scheme,'' the judge said. But the plot ``could not have existed without her participation.'' Jackson was given until Jan. 22 to report to prison. Her lawyer, Robert Baum, said she planned to spend Christmas with her family in California. He said he will appeal her conviction. Baum said Jackson ``appreciates that she acted inappropriately'' and was pained knowing ``that she will never have any relationship with the famous man she has always believed to be her father.'' Another defendant, Boris Sabas, was acquitted of extortion but convicted of conspiracy and crossing state lines to drive Jackson and Medina to the airport to go to New York. He is awaiting sentencing. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Autumn Jackson Says ``I'm so sorry'' |
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