Bill Cosby released after sexual assault conviction overturned by Pennsylvania Supreme Court

[Eric]

Wow

Bill Cosby released after assault conviction overturned by Pennsylvania Supreme Court

A previous prosecutor had decided not to charge the comic and actor, and he relied on that move to speak freely and give incriminating statements.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

A lot to unpack here on how our justice system works and for different classes of people, but him being released has nothing to do with his guilt. That much we can say.

But before this day came, I did hear opinions in different legal circles on how this particular case wasn't handled well and that would work in Cosby's favor, either him not getting convicted or being released early. The fact that he did get convicted probably said more about the current social climate.

 

[Eric]

A lot to unpack here on how our justice system works and for different classes of people, but him being released has nothing to do with his guilt. That much we can say.

But before this day came, I did hear opinions in different legal circles on how this particular case wasn't handled well and that would work in Cosby's favor, either him not getting convicted or being released early. The fact that he did get convicted probably said more about the current social climate.

Yeah it's an interesting situation, Cosby would've never admitted to anything had he not been promised immunity (essentially) so when they changed hands and decided to move ahead that is the crux of this issue, at least as I understand it. From a legal standpoint this ruling was clear and seemingly ironclad, even to the point that they cannot prosecute him again for this in the state of PA. It sounds like the state really blew this.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Yeah it's an interesting situation, Cosby would've never admitted to anything had he not been promised immunity (essentially) so when they changed hands and decided to move ahead that is the crux of this issue, at least as I understand it. From a legal standpoint this ruling was clear and seemingly ironclad, even to the point that they cannot prosecute him again for this in the state of PA. It sounds like the state really blew this.

Yeah, it sounds like this could have played out the same way for your average citizen, but it's questionable if a public defender would go that route during the trial or on appeal, one of the many differences between the justice system for the rich and the justice system for the poor.

I could also easily see the DA successfully keeping the average citizen in prison in the same circumstances or at least drag it out until they were about to be released anyway. There are cases where it's been definitively proven that somebody else committed the crime but the DA still drags their feet on releasing the wrongly convicted person from prison. They see the possible blemish on their record as more important than somebody's freedom.

 

[Alli]

Maybe some of the remaining 60something women can begin a new suit since they weren’t all allowed to join the one that landed him in prison.

 

[Eric]

Maybe some of the remaining 60something women can begin a new suit since they weren’t all allowed to join the one that landed him in prison.

Sounds like they're up against the statutes of limitations, on ABC News they mentioned this last case was their best hope.

 

[fooferdoggie]

another quality trump lawyers failed.

 

[DT]

I saw this written in a comment about this situation:

"To protect all of us, this rapist piece of shit walks. He’ll be 84 in a couple of weeks. Hopefully he’ll be joining Rumsfeld soon enough."

(If people weren't aware, Rumsfeld died today)

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

So Phylicia Rashad (actress who played Cosby’s wife on TV) tweeted out “FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted- a miscarriage of justice is corrected!”. That has to be a lonely hill to die on, possibly only her and Cosby on it. It’s one thing to believe and support Cosby in private, but to make a public statement like that is so many levels of face/palm. Maybe her and Giuliani should cowrite a book on how to go out of your way to destroy your image and legacy.

 

[thekev]

The trial circumstances sound pretty weird. Ignoring who it is, this seems like a bad norm, assuming it's accurately described here. (Don't read into my comment. There isn't any deeper support or sub-context.)

"Unable to invoke any right not to testify in the civil proceedings, Cosby relied upon the district attorney’s declination and proceeded to provide four sworn depositions. During those depositions, Cosby made several incriminating statements," Justice Wecht wrote in a 79-page opinion, joined by Justices Debra Todd, Christine Donohue and Sallie Updyke Mundy.

"The fruits of Cosby’s reliance upon D.A. Castor’s decision — Cosby’s sworn inculpatory testimony — were then used by D.A. Castor’s successors against Cosby at Cosby’s criminal trial."

 

[Thomas Veil]

It kills me to say this, but the reasoning of the judge seems clear and thought out. Whatever we all feel, he’s just trying to follow the agreement Cosby made with the original DA.

In practice, though, this absolutely sucks. Seeing Cosby walking out of jail angered me, though I’m sure not nearly as much as it angers the women he abused.

@Eric is right. It sounds like the state really blew this.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

The trial circumstances sound pretty weird. Ignoring who it is, this seems like a bad norm, assuming it's accurately described here. (Don't read into my comment. There isn't any deeper support or sub-context.)

Now he's saying he has always maintained his innocence. Ah, sounds like not according to himself in the sworn depositions that helped get him convicted. He must be a registered Republican, both for practicing "I didn't say that thing you have me on camera saying" and for the crime he was convicted of.

 

[thekev]

Now he's saying he has always maintained his innocence. Ah, sounds like not according to himself in the sworn depositions that helped get him convicted. He must be a registered Republican, both for practicing "I didn't say that thing you have me on camera saying" and for the crime he was convicted of.

I get you, and I wasn't commenting on that. The article reports that the prosecutor initially declined to prosecute. Lawsuits like this normally seem to come after criminal trials, since evidence from criminal investigations may come up. In this case, it happened in reverse order. Some of this evidence may not have surfaced through testimony during criminal proceedings if he invoked the fifth amendment.

On a side note, I can't imagine he'll be able to harm any new victims at this point, given the amount of attention he has received. That in itself is still somewhat of a win.

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

I get you, and I wasn't commenting on that. The article reports that the prosecutor initially declined to prosecute. Lawsuits like this normally seem to come after criminal trials, since evidence from criminal investigations may come up. In this case, it happened in reverse order. Some of this evidence may not have surfaced through testimony during criminal proceedings if he invoked the fifth amendment.

On a side note, I can't imagine he'll be able to harm any new victims at this point, given the amount of attention he has received. That in itself is still somewhat of a win.

I really don't get why there's such a big difference between civil and criminal trials and there seems to be a horrifying amount of times where the accused is found not guilty at the criminal trial but guilty at the civil trial. The big message is you can get away with literally anything if you have enough money to pay the ticket.

On a related note, I wonder how many millions (billions?) of taxpayer dollars would be saved if we killed the police bottomless civil suit loss fund. That's probably a question that can actually be answered. Would there be a greater push for criminal convictions if the state was no longer able to write people checks to get over it?

 

[User.191]

So Phylicia Rashad (actress who played Cosby’s wife on TV) tweeted out “FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted- a miscarriage of justice is corrected!”. That has to be a lonely hill to die on, possibly only her and Cosby on it. It’s one thing to believe and support Cosby in private, but to make a public statement like that is so many levels of face/palm. Maybe her and Giuliani should cowrite a book on how to go out of your way to destroy your image and legacy.

Sounds like she may have just jeopardized her new job that she was to start this week at Howard University as a result of this.