ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Guilty on all counts. That was the verdict that a Pennsylvania jury handed down today in the sexual assault trial of Bill Cosby. The case was brought by Andrea Constand, who accused Cosby of drugging and assaulting her. Here's her lawyer, Dolores Troiani.
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DOLORES TROIANI: She came here 14 years ago for justice. I am so happy today that I can say that although justice was delayed, it was not denied.
SHAPIRO: In this trial, five Cosby accusers other than Andrea Constand testified. One of them was Lise-Lotte Lublin. She was 23 when she met Cosby in 1989. He invited her to practice improvisation in a hotel suite. She believes that while there, Cosby drugged and assaulted her. She's now a sixth-grade teacher in Las Vegas, and she was at school when her husband called her with news of the verdict.
LISE-LOTTE LUBLIN: He said it's guilty. And I just said, are you messing with me? And he said, no, it's guilty, Lise, on all three counts. When he said all three counts, that's when it became real that he's really guilty. I hung up the phone with him, and my body started to shake. My heart was pounding inside of me. And my mind was going wild because at the same time that I am hearing what he's saying, it doesn't feel real. It doesn't resonate as being, this is true.
SHAPIRO: There was a time not long ago when Bill Cosby's accusers were not believed. And then they were believed, but there was no legal accountability. Now not only is there legal accountability, but there is a national #MeToo movement in which women are openly talking about experiences that they didn't use to talk about.
Can you put this conviction in the broader context of where the country is right now?
LUBLIN: I tell you, when I first talked about it publicly, the messages that came through that my husband would kind of run interference with - death threats that I was some type of whore, that I was money hungry. I mean, just the assassination on a person's character - it just supports why victims don't come forward. The Cosby women had to suffer through all of the hatred and bigotry and racism that was let out because we came forward.
They talked about us like we were animals that were old and disgusting and no one would want any interest in. This is not about someone being interested in. This is what a predator does. This is his craft and his hobby, and he enjoys it. That's the nature of who he is.
And there's so many that are still out there. And the #MeToo movement is getting there. It's helping. I want to see every single statute of limitations eliminated, abolished for sexual assault. A person needs that time. We need that time.
SHAPIRO: When you took the stand to testify at this trial and faced him decades after this encounter, what was that experience like for you?
LUBLIN: When I saw him in the courtroom, he just looked pitiful. He looked sad and pitiful. And I had to tell myself, look at him. Look at this man who's not really a man. He's just a sad, sorry excuse for a human being. And he has no power over me. I have all the power.
SHAPIRO: Lise-Lotte Lublin, thank you so much for talking with us today.
LUBLIN: Appreciate it.
SHAPIRO: She's a teacher in Las Vegas and one of more than 60 women who have accused Bill Cosby of sexual misconduct. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.