Board recommends Bill Cosby be designated a 'sexually violent predator'

July 24 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania board on Tuesday recommended Bill Cosby be classified as a "sexually violent predator," which would require him to register as a sex offender and undergo treatment.

District Attorney Kevin R. Steele filed a request asking Judge Steven T. O'Neill to schedule a hearing to determine whether Cosby will be given the designation based on a recommendation by the state sexual offender assessment board.

Pennsylvania law defines a sexually violent predator as a person who has "a mental abnormality or personality disorder that makes the person likely to engage in predatory sexually violent offenses."

If Cosby, 81, receives the designation he will be required to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life and to participate in counseling or treatment once a month.

The board made its recommendation after a psychologist met, questioned and evaluated Cosby, The New York Times reported.

Cosby's attorney, Joseph P. Green Jr., said the psychologist made the evaluations based on "irrelevant and improper" information without cross-examination.

During the hearing an expert witness from the sexual offender assessment board will give testimony about the evaluation and defense lawyers will present their own evaluation before O'Neill makes the final ruling.

The board's executive director, Meghan Dade, said it has made about 5,700 recommendations for sexually violent predator designations since 2000 and about 75 percent have been accepted.

In April, Cosby was convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. He faces up to 10 years in prison for each count, each of which could be served concurrently.

Philadelphia criminal defense attorney Alan Tauber told The New York Times that being designated as a sexually violent predator could affect Cosby's sentencing in the case, which is scheduled for September.

"The judge will have heard all of this information about him, and will now have expert testimony that will show him to be more dangerous than the court might otherwise have thought," Tauber said. "That could lead the judge to impose a longer sentence."