Autumn Jackson

In 1997, Jackson, along with two others,^[11] attempted to extort $40 million from Cosby in exchange for not going to the press with her claims of being his daughter. At the time, Jackson was living in Burbank, California. Jackson believed the leverage she held over Cosby was that his public and professional image would be damaged if the affair and disputed paternity claims were revealed.^[12] Jackson was contacted by Cosby's lawyer who warned her that what she was doing constituted an extortion attempt. Jackson persisted, and sent Cosby a copy of the $25,000 contract she had negotiated with The Globe to sell her story.^[1]

Cosby's lawyers contacted the FBI, who covertly contacted Jackson using the guise of a settlement agreement. Jackson was persuaded to come to New York for the purposes of a sting operation devised to gain proof of extortion on her part.^[13] Jackson was subsequently arrested on January 20, 1997. During the ensuing trial, Cosby was represented by attorneys Jack Schmidtt; Paul A. Engelmayer; and Lewis J. Liman, son of Arthur L. Liman, while Jackson was represented by Robert Baum. On December 12, 1997, Judge Barbara S. Jones of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York found Jackson guilty of threatening to injure another person's reputation with the intent to extort money, traveling across state lines to promote extortion, and conspiring to commit extortion. She was sentenced to 26 months in federal prison.^[14]

When Jackson began her sentence at the Dublin Federal Correctional Institution in April 1998, she was six months pregnant with twin boys. Their father was Jackson's then-boyfriend, now husband, Antonay Williams of Perry, Florida.^[15] In June 1999, after serving 14 months of her sentence, Jackson's conviction was overturned and she was released from jail, pending a retrial. She was also barred from contacting Cosby.^[16] In November 1999, Jackson's conviction was reinstated by the same court of appeals.^[17]

It has been suggested by legal experts that if Jackson had negotiated the original terms through a lawyer rather than acting on her own, she would have been able to avoid extortion charges and reach a settlement with Cosby.^[18] While citing Jackson's case as such an example, Eric Dezenhall described the nature of the legal strategy as "wrapping an extortion threat in a legal cloak." Criminal defense attorney Gerald B. Lefcourt stated that "Threatened lawsuits, and even filed lawsuits, are often no more than blackmail."^[19]

As a young woman, Jackson had aspirations of attending UCLA with the intention of studying film.^[20] Before the extortion case, Jackson worked for Spanish filmmaker José Medina and his production company.^[11] Jackson met Antonay Williams while both attended university at Tallahassee Community College in Tallahassee, Florida. On October 18, 1997, at Clearlake, California, Jackson married Williams in a private ceremony. On the marriage certificate, Jackson's father is listed as "unknown".^[21] As of 2014, Jackson works as a kitchen and bathroom designer and lives in Maryland.^{[citation needed]}