Just in: Guilty of three counts of Aggravated Indecent Assult
Each count could earn him 10 years in the clink.
Sometimes the system works.
Hurrah!
Prediction - out on appeal. Dead of natural causes before he serves any time.
To make it official via the Newspaper of Record: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/26/arts/television/bill-cosby-guilty-retrial.html
Yay!
So sad. Not the guilty verdict, but the necessity for it.
Except not in this case. This was more a case of the prosecutor saying what was said back then didn’t count because they had their fingers crossed. Then DA Bruce “Disaster” Castor decided not to prosecute. That paved the way for the civil trial, with supposedly sealed records, where Cosby did testify. IANAL, but I know enough not to testify in one case if it could come back to bite me in a criminal trial, surely Cosby would know that too, especially if he had good lawyers working for him, & with his net worth lawyer’s fees are like you or me buying a takeout meal. IOW, I don’t think this was Cosby cheaping out because he couldn’t afford it… I’m not saying he didn’t do it, but I don’t think he would have testified in a civil case knowing it could bite him in a criminal one.
Either his then-lawyer (now deceased) had such an agreement & it’s been lost to time, or he screwed up big time in not getting one. Do you think Ms. Constand would have gotten the testimony…or the payout back then if he pleaded the Fifth?
So maybe Cosby’s lawyers made a strategic error, then. Why does that mean that the system didn’t work? ISTM that justice was done (or as much as can be done in the case of rape), and that Cosby lawyers might have done something dumb doesn’t take away from the good of justice being done. Convicted, that sends a powerful signal to other prominent men that being rich and famous won’t necessarily shield you from jail if you abuse women. If he was found not guilty, that might send the opposite message.
I thought it was nice of Theo to walk him out of the building.
mmm
The whole thing is sad for all involved. I take no pleasure in this verdict just as I would have taken no pleasure in a verdict of not guilty. An old sick man is going to prison who should have gone there years ago as a young healthy man. Still, justice of a sort for the victims though.
I cannot believe the judge let him call the Prosecutor an asshole in open court without some sort of contempt sanction. A defendant in my town got 6 months in jail for contempt for giving a newspaper reporter the finger on the way into the courtroom.
He will never go in to prison. The appeal will drag on for years. He’ll be dead. Unless I am very much mistaken this is my opinion.
Release pending sentencing is not the same as release pending appeal. Yes, release pending appeal is possible, but much less common.
I have no idea how long appeals take in Pennsylvania, but in Washington, it could be resolved in 18 to 24 months.
I take great pleasure in this verdict.
What I can’t figure out is why he thought he had to drug the women. Bill Cosby was a pretty handsome guy, esp. when he was younger. If I was young Playboy playmate, I wouldn’t mind having sex with him. I’m just saying.
Also, the poor man is feeble and blind, and now he will probably die in prison. No one deserves that IMHO.
Just my two cents worth on the discussion. (Now go back to your discussion:).)
he wanted them drugged so he did it - he was a sick fuck and he almost got away with it
You don’t think he deserves to die in prison after being convicted of drugging and raping three women, and probably dozens more?
Are you fucking kidding me?
Fuck yes, he deserves to die in prison.
ETA: That was for Jim B.
Meh. He has had his reputation and legacy destroyed forever. I’m sure that hurts him plenty bad.
Well, it sends the message that being rich and famous might shield you for a few decades while you continue to predate with impunity, and you’ll eventually come to justice in your dotage. I think we have yet to see a case where an active serial celebrity predator like Harvey Weinstein has actually been charged, tried, and convicted to substantial jail time. The Cosby verdict is a step in the right direction, especially after the efforts to delegitimize Constand, but it’s a small step compared to actually convicting someone like Weinstein, Danny Masterson, Sean Penn, or James Toback.
And then Cosby’s counsel can claim health issues or senility (both probably true to a degree) to keep him from actually serving more than house arrest. If he actually sees the inside of a prison cell before he dies it’ll be long odds. And regardless of the time he serves, it won’t have repaired either the psychological injuries nor damage to the reputations of the women he has assaulted, nor the impact upon having a man viewed as a role model to many turn out to be a horrific monster of a human being.
But even worse, the coterie of people who knowingly facilitiated Bill Cosby drugging, molesting, and then suppressing dozens of women across several decades will never be subjected to any criminal charges, and likely nothing more than professional censure if that. Cosby is clearly a sociopath who perpetrated these crimes out of some mental deficiency, and if we can’t excuse him for it we can at least recognize that he is a severly damaged person who had some sick compulsion to do what he did. The same cannot be said for the people who assisted him in finding victims and covering for them in exchange for money and professional advancement. These were presumably rational people who made the decision that it was better to ride the coattails of a celebrity serial molester for their personal benefit rather than to make the moral decision to prevent or stop him, and it is these people, rather than the predators themselves, that perpetuate a system that allows celebrities to abuse their power indefinitely. Until these people are held accountable for their protection of or inaction in preventing Cosby from continuing to abuse women, the ‘justice’ in convicting an old man in his dotage after a lifetime of getting away with abuse is pretty notional.
Stranger
Cosby deserves everything he’s getting, but I can’t help but feel bad, I guess for myself. A cultural icon, everyone’s goofy dad, a great teller of funny stories, voices of cool cartoons…all brought down by this bizarre behavior. I used to like watching reruns of the Cosby show, I loved his “Himself” comedy standup from the 1980’s, it was a family VCR staple…everyone could watch it because it wasn’t profane.
I don’t know what I am trying to really say. I am certainly not defending the guy, but this doesn’t make me feel like celebrating either. It just sucks all the way around for everyone.
It’s probably good to recognize this about most criminal defendants. They, too, might have a mixed background, including acts of love and kindness, in addition to what they do on their worst days. (and probably, most are not as bad–and for as long-- as Cosby seems to have been). I’m okay with people being incarcerated, for a variety of reasons, but even when it’s appropriate, it’s often sad. The kid who broke into your garage, the secretary who embezzled office funds, and the guy down the street growing pot, they all have backstories that complicate feeling good about their convictions.
Cosby has now been convicted a truly terrible crime, and there is strong reason to suspect he is a repeat offender. I’m glad he was convicted and I won’t shed any tears about him being incarcerated. If the victims get some comfort from that, even better.