Woman Gets 26 Months in Cosby Plot

After hearing a tearful apology, a federal judge sentenced a 23-year-old woman who tried to extort $40 million from Bill Cosby to 26 months in prison on Friday.

The time to be served could be reduced if Autumn Jackson, who threatened to tell a tabloid newspaper that she is the entertainer’s out-of-wedlock daughter, completes six months at a boot-camp-style facility.

“I want to apologize to the court and to Mr. Cosby for the pain and embarrassment I caused him,” Jackson said as she fought to control her emotions. “I know Mr. Cosby had great expectations in my future. I let him down.”

“This case has a unique set of circumstances,” U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones said before pronouncing sentence. “This is not the case of a stranger who approaches another for blackmail.”

Cosby, who admitted having a “rendezvous” with Jackson’s mother in the 1970s and providing more than $100,000 in financial support over the years, was not in the courtroom. He has denied being Jackson’s father, and no DNA evidence was presented during the trial.

The actor/comedian had recommended incarceration and rehabilitation for Jackson.

“The sentence was measured, fair, balanced and just,” Andrew D. Schau, one of Cosby’s lawyers, said after court was adjourned.

“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,” he added.

“I only hoped Mr. Cosby would have been here so I could apologize in person,” Jackson, alternately crying and composing herself, told the judge.

The judge said Jackson believed that she was Cosby’s daughter and that she was manipulated by others in the scheme, which Jones deemed grandiose and naive.

“You shall not initiate any further contact with Cosby,” the judge warned.

Jackson could have faced up to 71 months in prison after being found guilty with two co-defendants on July 25 of extortion, conspiracy and the crossing of state lines to commit a crime.

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Jose Medina, 51, a sometimes occupational therapist and would-be screenwriter from Bethesda, Ohio, and Boris Sabas, 42, of Los Angeles will be sentenced later.

“Medina was clearly the architect of the scheme,” the judge said.

Antonay Williams, a fourth defendant who pleaded guilty to helping the conspirators, cooperated with prosecutors. Jackson and Williams were recently married.

Jones departed from federal sentencing guidelines, stating that “the case involved a unique set of circumstances” with “no threat of repetition.”

However, she said she was imposing prison time because of the gravity of the offense and to deter others from committing acts of extortion.

Jones recommended that Jackson enter the federal Bureau of Prisons Intensive Confinement Program, commonly known as “boot camp.”

The judge said that if Jackson successfully completes the program, which includes courses in life skills, self-esteem and physical fitness, she could be eligible for a six-month reduction of her sentence. Jones also raised the possibility that Jackson could serve the balance of her sentence in a community-based program that could include home confinement.

Jackson had urged the judge not to impose a prison term.

“I am frightened about the possibility of going to jail,” she said.

“If given the opportunity to put my past behind me without going to jail,” she pleaded, “you or no one else will ever see me in a courtroom.”

Jackson said she was influenced by Medina.

“I was very vulnerable to manipulation. I allowed Mr. Medina to do the thinking for me,” she said. “I blame myself for not being able to stand up and walk away. . . . I learned many lessons from this. You have to think before you act.”

During the trial, evidence showed that Jackson and Medina contacted Cosby’s lawyer and threatened to take the story that she was the entertainer’s daughter to a tabloid unless they were paid $40 million.

Prosecutors charged they sent faxes and made calls threatening to ruin Cosby’s reputation to CBS, the television network carrying Cosby’s sitcom, and his book publisher.

After Jackson was warned by Cosby’s lawyer that she was committing a crime, she persisted in the scheme, and the lawyer contacted the FBI.

During a taped phone call, Jackson said she would accept $24 million “to end everything,” and she flew to New York with Medina to collect the money.

They were taken into custody on Jan. 18 in the offices of Cosby’s lawyer after signing a purported agreement that paid Jackson $18 million and Medina $6 million for their silence and to terminate discussions with the tabloid.

In closing arguments during the trial, Assistant U.S. Atty. Lewis J. Liman painted a portrait of greed.

“She wasn’t asking for hugs and kisses or love,” he told the jury. “She was asking for cold, hard cash.”

Jackson’s court-appointed lawyer, Robert Baum, sought to present a different picture of Jackson: a naive young woman who was spurned by Cosby over the years after receiving sporadic pep talks from the entertainer.