Bill Cosby convicted on three counts (so far) of sexual assault

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Iconic entertainer Bill Cosby was convicted on three counts of sexual assault Thursday, a decision that punctuates one of the most thundering falls from grace in American cultural history.

The courtroom rocked with emotion as the jury foreperson, a slender woman with long graying hair and glasses, said those three words — guilty, guilty, guilty — for assaulting Andrea Constand, the only woman among dozens of accusers to bring criminal charges against the disgraced comedian. Two women who have accused Cosby of sexual assault but did not testify at the trial burst out in loud sobs from their seats in one of the back rows of the cramped and tension-filed courtroom.

They were escorted from the courtroom by security officials, but their tears — tears of joy, sadness and exhaustion after a frustrating years-long struggle — still filtered into the courtroom through the closed, heavy wooden doors.

Once one of the nation’s most admired men, a pioneering African American actor beloved for his role as Dr. Cliff Huxtable on the 1980s megahit “The Cosby Show,” Cosby was recast in a suburban Philadelphia courtroom as a merciless predator and sexual deviant in the first celebrity trial of the #MeToo era of awareness about sexual assault and harassment. A 7-man, 5-woman jury took less than two days to convict Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting Constand, a Temple University women’s basketball operations director more than three decades his junior whom the comedian lured into his home with promises of mentorship. No sentencing date has been set. The conviction comes in a retrial of a 2017 case in which a mistrial was declared.

When Cosby received the message about his fate — a conviction that could send him to prison for as many 30 years, essentially a life sentence for a man his age — the old comic’s jaw muscles pulsed. He sat rigidly still.

But Cosby’s composure slipped when the jury filed out. The comedian exploded in anger as District Attorney Kevin Steele argued that Cosby has access to a private plane and should have his $1 million bail revoked because he might be a flight risk.

“He doesn’t have a plane, you a--hole!” Cosby shouted in an earsplitting roar that startled the courtroom and sent necks craning for a glimpse of his moment of distilled rage. “He doesn’t know!”

Steven T. O’Neill, the Montgomery County judge who oversaw the case, declined to revoke Cosby’s bail but ordered him not to leave his estate in nearby Elkins Park, Pa.

Cosby paused for a moment before leaving the courtroom. He slumped ever so slightly at the defense table. He leaned on a slender cane, his constant companion during the long courtroom battles. His public relations agent extended a hand. But the funnyman, the curmudgeonly father figure of TV lore, was surrounded only by people on his payroll. Attorneys and publicists encircled him, but his two adult daughters — absent throughout the trial — were nowhere to be seen. His wife, Camille, who’d appeared only for closing arguments, was not there, either.

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Bill Cosby mentally preparing for prison; invokes Nelson Mandela's name

Invoking the name of Nelson Mandela and citing the former South African president's experience as a political prisoner, Bill Cosby reportedly says he's preparing himself mentally for incarceration stemming from his stunning conviction on charges of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman.
“This is what they wanted,” the 80-year-old Cosby reportedly told the New York Post's Page Six column in an interview following his conviction last week by a Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, jury.

The column, published Saturday evening, says Cosby repeatedly spoke to Page Six over the past year with the agreement that nothing could be shared publicly during the legal proceeding.

In an earlier interview, Cosby reportedly told Page Six that he has thought about what Mandela endured in prison to prepare himself for going to "that place," meaning prison.

“But, you know, I think back to the time when Camille and I went to visit Nelson Mandela in South Africa," Cosby said, referring to his wife of 54 years, Camille Cosby. "He was a free man, but I remember when we met him at Robben Island where he had been in a prison for all of those years. I sat in that cell where he lived, and I saw how he lived . . . what he had to eat to live and what he went through.

“So, if they send me to that place, then that’s what they will do, and I will have to go there.”

But Andrew Wyatt, Cosby's spokesman, denied the comedian gave an interview to Page Six.

"He never did that," Wyatt told ABC News on Sunday. "That's totally false. He never gave Page Six an interview."

In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for the New York Post said, "The Post stands by its story."

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Bill Cosby juror tells 'Good Morning America' that comic's own words led to his conviction

PHILADELPHIA – A juror on the Bill Cosby sexual assault retrial case says the comedian’s own words sealed his fate.

Harrison Snyder, in an interview aired Monday on ABC’s Good Morning America, said that it “wasn’t an open and shut case.” But the 22-year-old says Cosby’s deposition – in which he admitted giving women drugs to have sex with them – was the evidence that made him believe he was guilty.

Bill Cosby raped me. Why did it take 30 years for people to believe my story?

Only when a male comedian called Cosby a rapist did the accusation take hold.

In 2004, when Andrea Constand filed a lawsuit against Bill Cosby for sexual assault, her lawyers asked me to testify. Cosby had drugged and raped me, too, I told them. The lawyers said I could testify anonymously as a Jane Doe, but I ardently rejected that idea. My name is not Jane Doe. My name is Barbara Bowman, and I wanted to tell my story in court. In the end, I didn’t have the opportunity to do that, because Cosby settled the suit for an undisclosed amount of money.

Over the years, I’ve struggled to get people to take my story seriously. So last month, when reporter Lycia Naff contacted me for an interview for the Daily Mail, I gave her a detailed account. I told her how Cosby won my trust as a 17-year-old aspiring actress in 1985, brainwashed me into viewing him as a father figure, and then assaulted me multiple times. In one case, I blacked out after having dinner and one glass of wine at his New York City brownstone, where he had offered to mentor me and discuss the entertainment industry. When I came to, I was in my panties and a man’s t-shirt, and Cosby was looming over me. I’m certain now that he drugged and raped me. But as a teenager, I tried to convince myself I had imagined it. I even tried to rationalize it: Bill Cosby was going to make me a star and this was part of the deal. The final incident was in Atlantic City, where we had traveled for an industry event. I was staying in a separate bedroom of Cosby’s hotel suite, but he pinned me down in his own bed while I screamed for help. I’ll never forget the clinking of his belt buckle as he struggled to pull his pants off. I furiously tried to wrestle from his grasp until he eventually gave up, angrily called me “a baby” and sent me home to Denver.

Back then, the incident was so horrifying that I had trouble admitting it to myself, let alone to others. But I first told my agent, who did nothing. (Cosby sometimes came to her office to interview people for “The Cosby Show” and other acting jobs.) A girlfriend took me to a lawyer, but he accused me of making the story up. Their dismissive responses crushed any hope I had of getting help; I was convinced no one would listen to me. That feeling of futility is what ultimately kept me from going to the police. I told friends what had happened, and although they sympathized with me, they were just as helpless to do anything about it. I was a teenager from Denver acting in McDonald’s commercials. He was Bill Cosby: consummate American dad Cliff Huxtable and the Jell-O spokesman. Eventually, I had to move on with my life and my career.

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Why Bill Cosby may not spend any time in prison

Based on his conviction this week on three assault charges, comedian and TV star Bill Cosby could be sentenced to 30 years in prison.
But legal experts said the 80-year-old certainly will spend less time than that behind bars, and there's a very real possibility that he may not ever be incarcerated.
Why? Well, it's mostly to do with his defense team's plan to appeal the guilty verdict -- likely on the grounds that the decision to allow five other accusers to testify in the trial unfairly prejudiced the jury.
Cosby's attorney, Tom Mesereau, will probably ask the court that his client be given home confinement during the appeal, which could take months or even years, CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson said.
"I think he'll ask the court and do whatever he needs to, to have his client remain out at liberty until these issues are decided, whether it was appropriate to allow all those accusers to testify, and how prejudicial and unfair would that be," Jackson said.
The decision on Cosby's bail is up to Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O'Neill, who oversaw the case. His prior rulings suggest he may allow Cosby to remain on home confinement.
On Thursday, O'Neill dismissed the prosecution's plea to revoke Cosby's $1 million bail and remand him to jail.

I can see a reality show in the works.

I Spy, Prison time. hehehe

3-10 in Penn ...

Good

Only because he's old and not useful anymore. He wouldn't have gotten any jail time if he was as popular now as he was 15 years ago.

Well maybe Mike but his fame did hold off the final determination for quite a few years. I have to admit I liked him in I Spy and the later Cosby series.
I simply do not understand why he would need to resort to drugs to get pussy.

As a broke ass mother fucker I can still get pussy but at my age I just don't give a fuck. Must be something going on in that boy.

I don't get it either ...
Most women would have just fucked him ...
(Not that he's not fucked now; just sayin') ...

A few bobbles and women drop their panties in a heartbeat.
Just no excuse for drugging them when you have basically unlimited funds, except for weed and alcohol to get them ready. And have fun. 
By fun I mean mutual fun.

No, I agree ...
Getting pussy is not a tough issue ...

Here's the ultimate follow up ...
Bill Cosby released from prison after conviction overturned

Bill Cosby has been released from prison after the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania vacated his 2018 conviction on sexual assault charges and judgment of sentence, according to a courts spokesperson.

Cosby was sentenced in 2018 to 10 years in a state prison for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home 14 years ago.
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Bill Cosby is being released from prison after the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania vacated his 2018 conviction on sexual assault charges and judgment of sentence. Victoria Valentino, one of Cosby's accusers, told CNN she was "stunned" by the court's decision.
Valentino said she had recently received a letter stating that Cosby's parole was preemptively denied due to a lack of remorse and a refusal to participate in programs for abusers.

She said that when she first heard about Cosby's release she was "shocked." Valentino said her phone was bombarded with messages from media, loved ones and survivors.

"For this to come out of left field is — it's a gut punch," Valentino said. "There's no other way to describe it."

Valentino said the decision sends Cosby's accusers "back to square one."

"What does that say about a woman's worth? A woman's value? Do our lives mean nothing? All of the lives that he damaged," Valentino said. "I'm infuriated. I'm shaking."

Valentino told CNN this decision is especially disappointing since the women who accused Cosby kickstarted the #MeToo movement and encouraged other women to find their voices.

"Because we spoke out and we saw justice with Cosby, everyone else felt empowered and spoke out," she said.

"This is really a sad statement about a woman's value, a woman's worth - what is happening right now, and we need to do something about this. I just don't know what," Valentino said. "I'm so stunned. My stomach is in knots."

More ...

Cosby free on a procedural issue "irrelevant to the facts of the crime," attorney who prosecuted him says
From CNN’s Anisa Husain
(At this time; same link as above)

Bill Cosby is free on a procedural issue that is “irrelevant to the facts of the crime,” the Montgomery County district attorney who previously prosecuted Cosby said in a statement.

“I want to commend Cosby’s victim Andrea Constand for her bravery in coming forward and remaining steadfast throughout this long ordeal, as well as all of the other women who have shared similar experiences,” District Attorney Kevin Steele said. “My hope is that this decision will not dampen the reporting of sexual assaults by victims. Prosecutors in my office will continue to follow the evidence wherever and to whomever it leads. We still believe that no one is above the law—including those who are rich, famous and powerful.”

Here's everything you need to know about Cosby's case:
There were two trials: At Cosby's first criminal trial, which ended in a hung jury, defense attorneys tried to poke holes in Constand’s version of events and argued that the two had a consensual sexual relationship. At his second trial, Cosby faced the testimony of five other women who claimed similar misconduct by him.

The verdict: The jury worked for more than 14 hours over two days to reach the guilty verdict. “We are so happy that finally we can say, women are believed. And not only on #MeToo but in a court of law where they are under oath, where they testified truthfully, where they are attacked,” Attorney Gloria Allred, who represented many of the women who accused Cosby of misconduct, said.

Following the verdict: Cosby did not audibly react to the guilty verdict, but he did erupt shortly afterword. Prosecutors asked the judge to revoke Cosby's bail, saying he was a flight risk and had a private plane. Cosby then stood up and yelled, “He doesn’t have a plane, you asshole.” Moreover, after Cosby was found guilty, many universities revoked his honorary degrees, such Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

The sentence: Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in a state prison. He was ordered to pay a fine of $25,000 plus the costs of prosecution as part of the sentence. In addition, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Judge Steven O’Neill ruled that Cosby would be classified as a “sexually violent predator,” a determination that requires lifetime registration, lifetime mandatory sex offender counseling with a treatment provider and notification to the community that a “sexually violent predator” lives in the area.

Parole: In May 2021, Cosby was denied parole by the Pennsylvania Parole Board. The board cited Cosby's "failure to develop a parole release plan" and a "negative recommendation by the Department of Corrections" as factors that contributed to the decision.

(Again, at this current time, same link as above)

That’s a fucking stupid decision if you’re the state. Prosecutors and cops lie all the fucking time to get people to admit to things. If you make them stick to their word, then you’re screwing your whole operation.

https://youtu.be/jgxyCudDiM4

All Your Questions About Bill Cosby’s Overturned Verdict, Answered
By Natalie Hope McDonald

It’s been one month since Bill Cosby was denied parole for refusing to attend prison workshops for sex offenders, and now the 83-year-old comedian is walking free. After Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned Cosby’s three felony charges of aggravated indecent assault, there are a lot of questions about what happened, and how the latest decision could impact future cases in the era of Me Too.

Here’s what we know:

What just happened?
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned Cosby’s 2019 felony conviction, ruling that a “non-prosecution agreement” with a previous prosecutor should have prevented him from ever actually standing trial. There was also the issue of the former so-called “prior bad act witnesses” who testified in Cosby’s second trial. His attorneys successfully argued that they unfairly prejudiced the jury.

The court specifically said in its 79-page opinion that “the moment that Cosby was charged criminally, he was harmed,” adding, “He must be discharged, and any future prosecution on these particular charges must be barred.”

And that means what?
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed Cosby’s conviction, allowing him to leave prison as a free man. He is no longer required to file as a sexually violent predator on the sex offender registry.

What was Cosby accused of in the first place?
Andrea Constand, a former employee of Temple University, accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her in his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. She testified that the comedian gave her blue pills of unknown origin, and that after she drifted in and out of consciousness, Cosby assaulted her sexually. She claimed that Cosby was evasive when she questioned him about what happened.

How did we get to this latest decision by the court?
After Cosby was convicted on three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault and sentenced to three-to-ten years in state prison, his defense team filed an appeal, arguing that former Montgomery County district attorney Bruce Castor had agreed to not file criminal charges if Cosby provided a sworn deposition in a civil case that Constand had filed prior to the criminal case. In those depositions, Cosby admitted to furnishing drugs, specifically quaaludes, to women. And he admitted to being sexually involved with Constand.

Cosby was ultimately convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting Constand, a conviction the lower court upheld in 2019. As a result, Cosby’s lawyers sought an appeal at the state level, arguing that Castor’s agreement with Cosby, which they said precluded him from being able to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights during the depositions, coupled with the prior bad act witnesses in the second trial, were grounds for overturning the verdict.

It’s important to note that the depositions Cosby gave about drugs and women in 2005 were used as evidence in both the first trial, which ended in a hung jury, and the second trial, in which he was ultimately convicted of three felonies. Because Castor removed the threat of criminal prosecution if Cosby agreed to making the depositions, the comedian’s attorneys successfully established that Cosby wasn’t able to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, and therefore was unable to defend himself against the criminal charges.

The court agreed with Cosby’s legal team, saying that the depositions (and specifically Cosby’s own testimony under oath) ultimately allowed prosecutors to draw a line between Cosby giving women drugs and the experience Constand said she had with him involving pills. At no time, Cosby’s lawyers argued, did the comedian expect that his sworn testimony in the civil case would ever see the light of day, let alone in criminal court.

Why didn’t the DA prosecute Cosby initially?
Castor would later testify that he made the decision to not prosecute Cosby criminally because of what he called “defects in the case,” notably that Constand waited to come forward. He was also concerned that there wasn’t enough evidence to convict.

In Castor’s view, Constand’s delay both diminished the reliability of any recollections and undermined the investigator’s efforts to collect forensic evidence. He also said that he found inconsistencies in Constand’s statements.
At the time, Castor concluded in a press statement that “there was insufficient credible and admissible evidence upon which any charge against Cosby related to the Constand incident could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Did Castor actually investigate Cosby?
According to court records, a search was done of Cosby’s home outside of Philadelphia where Constand said the incident took place, and Cosby provided written answers to questions from investigators. The DA’s office also looked into other accusations against Cosby by other women. These claims were also deemed unreliable at the time. Overall, it’s estimated that the investigation took about one month.

What happened after the DA refused to prosecute Cosby?
In 2005*, Constand filed a lawsuit against Cosby in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern State of Pennsylvania that led Cosby to testify under oath in several of these controversial depositions, during which he admitted to having a romantic interest in Constand and suggested that they had consensually engaged in sexual activity three different times, including the night she accused him of drugging and assaulting her.

What happened to that lawsuit?
Constand settled with Cosby for $3.38 million.

Okay, so who charged Cosby criminally?
Castor’s successors reopened the case and charged Cosby in 2015, just days before the 12-year statute of limitations was set to expire.

Then what happened?
There were two trials. The first, in 2017, ended after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict. The second jury found Cosby guilty of all three counts of felony indecent assault, and he was sentenced to state prison for between three-and-ten years. Cosby’s legal team filed several post-sentence motions seeking a new trial that were denied.

What was the big difference between the trials?
Most notably, five women who accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them in the 1980s testified in the second trial. Despite Cosby’s legal team’s best efforts to prevent this evidence from being presented, the court ultimately decided to allow it, saying it demonstrated a pattern of behavior consistent with Constand’s accusations. It should be noted that whether to allow these types of witnesses can vary from state to state. In Pennsylvania, it is legal to call this type of witness.

How did this case end up at the state’s highest court?
Cosby’s lawyers appealed after the Superior Court upheld his conviction in 2019, concluding that there was no expectation that Cosby would be immune from criminal prosecution. His lawyers’ next and final appeal was granted just one year later. They argued that both the testimonies of the five women in the second trial and Cosby’s own testimony to using quaaludes with women, without being able to exercise his Fifth Amendment right, prejudiced the jury. They also cited the former DA’s agreement to not prosecute Cosby if he was deposed under oath.

How could this impact future cases?
Because Cosby was the first celebrity to be prosecuted in the era of Me Too, there will ultimately be a lot of supposition about how this decision could impact future cases, perhaps most notably whether prior bad act witnesses will be allowed in sexual-assault cases and, if they are used, if they can be used to reverse a verdict on technicalities.

For some, Cosby’s guilty verdict signaled a new era in which allegations of sexual abuse by powerful men would be taken seriously by the court. Of note is that Cosby’s first trial (the one that ended in a hung jury) actually took place before Harvey Weinstein was accused of misconduct. His second trial came in the midst of Weinstein’s own exposure and ultimate downfall. At the time, his lawyers argued that the social climate could unfairly contribute to convicting Cosby.

For others, the verdict’s reversal is cause for celebration. Phylicia Rashad, the actress who played Cosby’s wife on the hit television show The Cosby Show, immediately tweeted her support: “FINALLY!!!!” Rashad, who was recently named dean of Howard University’s College of Fine Arts, added, “A terrible wrong is being righted - a miscarriage of justice is corrected!”

Have other women come forward with accusations against Cosby?
Dozens of women have accused Cosby of assaulting them.

Did Cosby ever confess to any of these accusations?
No. He has long denied all accusations against him.

Could he be tried again?
The court barred any possibility of a retrial, so he can’t be tried on these same charges. He could, however, potentially face new charges if a credible accuser comes forward within the statute of limitations, which can vary by state.

Link Here

WTF is this?

The court specifically said in its 79-page opinion that “the moment that Cosby was charged criminally, he was harmed,”

Ok, best comment on the page:

Now OJ's got a friend to go golfin' with...