Andrea Constand’s courageous fight for justice isn’t over, even though Bill Cosby’s first trial resulted in a deadlock.
Prosecutors vowed to retry the case when the mistrial was declared, but a statement of intentions isn’t something that you can mark on your calendar.
But now Bill Cosby’s retrial has a date, and it might be just in time.
The state gets only one proverbial bite at the apple, but the jury has to actually reach a verdict one way or the other.
Otherwise, the prosecutors have the option of retrying the case until a jury is able to reach a consensus.
Sometimes, this leads prosecutors to change courtroom strategies.
Often, though, prosecutors decline to retry or offer a deal to the defendant because they worry that they can’t convict.
Giving up and compromises aren’t — and cannot be — options in this infamous case.
A judge announced that Bill Cosby’s retrial will begin on November 6th of this year.
Andrea Constand broke her social media silence after the mistrial, thanking people for their support.
The prosecutor has praised her commitment to justice.
“She is a positive person and has kept all of us going while waiting for the jury to come back.”
In many trials, the prosecutors have to essentially nag witnesses and even victims into testifying when it’s their turn.
But that’s not the case with Andrea Constand — even after the mistrial.
“She will continue to cooperate with us and I look forward to her getting a verdict in this case.”
Not all survivors are willing to go through this kind of ordeal, especially when they’re accusing a celebrity.
And who could blame them?
But we’re glad that Andrea Constand is taking a stand for those who cannot.
She’s waited a long time for justice.
And it looks like she’s prepared to wait a little longer.
Why do we say that the November 6th date might be “just in time?”
Because Bill Cosby has plans, and he’s announced exactly what he intends to do with his continued freedom.
Bill Cosby plans to go on tour and advise men on how to not get accused of sexual assault. Ugh.
The obvious answer — the one that Twitter shouted from the rooftops (not literally), was simple:
If you don’t want to be accused of sexual assault, don’t rape people.
That’s not completely foolproof, but that’ll cover the vast majority of cases.
Remember that false accusations of sexual assault are extremely rare — even rarer than convictions for rapists that include jail time.
In fact, only a very small portion of rapes are ever reported to police.
A fraction of those result in an arrest.
Not all of those ever make it to trial.
Even when accused rapists are brought to trial, as the world is painfully aware, the odds are strongly stacked in favor of the accused.
Because of how society trains people to blame victims for becoming victims, but also because of how our justice system — designed by rich white slave-owning men, centuries ago — isn’t always equipped to deliver justice.
It takes a truly sick mind to think that we need a disgraced celebrity to tour the country and give out advice that sexual predators might find useful.
Hopefully, Cosby’s plans will be put on hold while he gears up for the retrial.
Somehow, Bill Cosby still has his defenders.
Even though, as we heard in the first trial, Bill Cosby talks about women like serial killers discuss dolls.
So we all should prepare for more creepiness as we enter round two.
