Bill Cosby’s sex assault conviction overturned by court


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PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned Bill Cosby’s sex assault conviction Wednesday after finding an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented him from being charged in the case.

 

Cosby has served more than two years of a three- to 10-year sentence at a state prison near Philadelphia. He had vowed to serve all 10 years rather than acknowledge any remorse over the 2004 encounter with accuser Andrea Constand.

 

The 83-year-old Cosby, who was once beloved as “America’s Dad,” was convicted of drugging and molesting the Temple University employee at his suburban estate.

 

He was charged in late 2015, when a prosecutor armed with newly unsealed evidence — Cosby’s damaging deposition from her lawsuit — arrested him days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired.

 

The trial judge had allowed just one other accuser to testify at Cosby’s first trial, when the jury deadlocked. However, he then allowed five other accusers to testify at the retrial about their experiences with Cosby in the 1980s.

 

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court said that testimony tainted the trial, even though a lower appeals court had found it appropriate to show a signature pattern of drugging and molesting women.

 

Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era, so the reversal could make prosecutors wary of calling other accusers in similar cases. The law on prior bad act testimony varies by state, though, and the ruling only holds sway in Pennsylvania.

 

Prosecutors did not immediately say if they would appeal or seek to try Cosby for a third time.

 

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/bill-cosbys-sex-assault-conviction-overturned-by-court/2021/06/30/d01f5802-d9c1-11eb-8c87-ad6f27918c78_story.html

 

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I wonder what swayed the court? Seems like he had a history of drugging women or was that all exaggerated? 

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An agreement with a previous prosecutor, sounds like some legal wrangling and loophole stuff to me.

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Just now, Steven P. said:

 

An agreement with a previous prosecutor, sounds like some legal wrangling and loophole stuff to me.

yeah sounds about right. just more proving how corrupt/inconsistent our system is here in the US :/

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2 hours ago, Steven P. said:

 

I wonder what swayed the court? Seems like he had a history of drugging women or was that all exaggerated? 

He said he bought drugs with the purpose of giving them to women from what I saw few years back. Don't think he said without their knowledge.  Like buying a woman a drink really as long as they knew and accepted.  Tho if someone says no to sexual advances, then no means no. 

 

Anyway, if a deal was made, as many cases have deals, and that was not honored, then only the courts fault here. 

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10 hours ago, Steven P. said:

I wonder what swayed the court? Seems like he had a history of drugging women or was that all exaggerated? 

Seems he was once granted immunity which was not honored during the trial. His release has nothing to do with innocence from what I can tell

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1 hour ago, kcbworth said:

Seems he was once granted immunity which was not honored during the trial. His release has nothing to do with innocence from what I can tell

I'm really not sure what to think about this.  It's not just this deal that wasn't honoured, but also allowing women to had nothing at all to do with the case to testify?  What the hell?!  That's not even remotely appropriate...

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47 minutes ago, FloatingFatMan said:

I'm really not sure what to think about this.  It's not just this deal that wasn't honoured, but also allowing women to had nothing at all to do with the case to testify?  What the hell?!  That's not even remotely appropriate...

Yep, it's really just a flat out botched case. But even still, his reputation is in ruins and he did spend two years in prison. One could possibly say the damage is done.

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On 30/06/2021 at 12:53, Steven P. said:

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/bill-cosbys-sex-assault-conviction-overturned-by-court/2021/06/30/d01f5802-d9c1-11eb-8c87-ad6f27918c78_story.html

 

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I wonder what swayed the court? Seems like he had a history of drugging women or was that all exaggerated? 

 

It was constitutional issues, a violation of his rights to due process and against self-incrimination, a basic violation of contract law, and prosecutorial incompetence. 

 

Sequence (abridged)

 

Civil lawsuit: Victims sued in civil court, with which comes the right to depose Cosby before trial. 

 

In order to get Cosby to take responsibility the then county prosecutor and Cosby's attorneys came to a verbal deal; he truthfully testifies and the State wouldn't prosecute him. The deal was announced in a press release, and the prosecutor discussed it with reporters, etc.  The prosecutor also left notes to his successors about the arrangement.

 

Cosby testifies to his crimes in civil court.

 

Criminal case:  a new county prosecutor takes over, unilaterally trashes the previous deal because it wasn't an official & signed plea deal and successfully prosecutes Cosby, using his testimony in the civil trial and that of other victims as evidence.

 

Cosby's lawyers appeal, claiming the original deal should have been honored because it was announced, and improper testimony & evidence was admitted. 

 

PA Supreme Court:  the court held 6-1 that the original deal was a verbal  contract, and the prosecution's use of the improper evidence & testimony violated Cosby's rights to due process and to not self-incriminate (5th Amendment). It also held 4-3 that the state cannot re-try him.

 

Aftermath: the original prosecutor thinks Cosby can sue,

 

 link...

 

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Bruce Castor, the prosecutor Cosby had his previous agreement with, suggested Thursday that Cosby could sue Montgomery County over the handling of the case. 

 

Ka-Ching.

 

Edited by DocM
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Not a lawyer, but I agree... Cosby can probably sue and make bank, despite his admitted guilt.  That second prosecutor needs some serious reprimanding...

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1 hour ago, FloatingFatMan said:

Not a lawyer, but I agree... Cosby can probably sue and make bank, despite his admitted guilt.  That second prosecutor needs some serious reprimanding...

He needs to be voted out - Chief County Prosecutor's here are usually elected. Ditto the State Attorney General.

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On 01/07/2021 at 06:02, FloatingFatMan said:

I'm guessing double jeopardy will come into play here as well, so he can't be re-tried?

 

Yes more than likely they will not try, but he is not immune from civil suits, but guessing from his age, they won't try that route either.

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3 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Yes more than likely they will not try,

The PA State Supreme Court ruled out re-trying him there, but if the Statute of Limitations hasn't run out in other states they could prosecute him. Don't hold your breath after this.

 

3 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

but he is not immune from civil suits, but guessing from his age, they won't try that route either.

 

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I thought they didn't count most of the witnesses in the original trail that was overturned, one of the agreements was that Cosby would detail what he did for immunity, so yeah if Statute of Limitations hasn't been reached in some cases he could be tried for the first time by one or more of the victims.

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