Bill Cosby didn’t get any sympathy points from the judge who will preside over his new trial … His Honor rejected his bid to get the case tossed. The disgraced comedian was in court Monday in Norristown, Pennsylvania where his lawyer, Tom…
Showing posts with label ReTrial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ReTrial. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Friday, February 9, 2018
Bill Cosby Retrial: Lawyers Move to Exclude 19 "Prejudicial" Accusers From Testifying
Just a few weeks ago, Bill Cosby went on stage and joked about his rape accusations. People actually went to see him, if you can imagine.
The disgraced comedian’s last trial ended in a deadlock, but he’s up for retrial over the later this year for the 2004 sexual assault of Andrea Constand.
And his lawyers are righting to exclude 19 different women from testifying.
Bill Cosby has more than 60 accusers who alleged that he sexually assaulted them.
That is a tremendous number of women who’ve come forward with stories of some of the worst moments of their lives.
Of course, convicted sex monster Dr. Larry Nassar has over 140 accusers.
And Director James Toback has over 300 accusers, including Selma Blair and Rachel McAdams.
But this isn’t the world’s worst contest, and for anyone accused of any crime to stand accused by so many is rare. The idea that a single person could do so much harm to so many people is horrifying.
For many of Bill Cosby’s accusers, there are no options for criminal prosecution because of statutory rape laws that allow countless sexual predators to evade justice.
Traumatized victims do not always come forward immediately, especially in a sex-negative society that shames survivors and especially when the sex monster who preyed upon them is wealthy, beloved, or a celebrity.
Or all three.
Andrea Constand, however, is able to take Bill Cosby to trial because she did come forward in 2004. We cannot image how much bravery she needed.
Though Cosby’s trial last year ended in a deadlock, one can’t help but wonder if jurors might view him differently in the #MeToo era, when people are conscious of how many sex monsters have been prowling the entertainment industry for decades.
When asked about how he thinks that his trial might be impacted by the (slowly) changing culture, Billy Cosby made this face:
We don’t yet know whether Cosby will face his #TimesUp moment. Like we said, he went on stage just a few weeks ago in an impromptu performance.
But, though he makes the human equivalent of the shrugging emoticon … ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ … when asked, his attorneys are taking a more proactive approach when it comes to determining what the jurors will decide.
Cosby’s team is attempting to exclude 19 of his accusers from testifying at his trial, arguing that it would be prejudicial.
Interestingly, they’re claiming that hearing 19 women say that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them won’t be helpful in letting jurors decide if it’s likely that he sexually assaulted a woman.
In papers filed in Montgomery County Court, Cosby’s team argues:
“While the prospect of trotting out 19 other accusers makes for a splashy headline, it does nothing to advance the goal of fairly deciding Bill Cosby’s guilt or innocence.”
That’s quite the claim.
“Admitting evidence of even just one of these uncharged and unproven accusations would be highly prejudicial.”
For the record, usually when something is excluded for being prejudicial, it is because it’s either irrelevant or, well, subject to actual prejudices, without yielding sufficient probative value for the judge to consider it “worth the risk.”
For example, issues or race or religion or sexuality — of the victim or the defendant — might impact bigoted jurors who weren’t excluded during the Voir Dire process.
We’re no legal experts by any means.
Since these are accusations that Bill Cosby did the same crime for which he’s on trial, however, it sounds pertinent to our unschooled ears.
Similarly, if a man is accused of robbing a bank, hearing testimony accusing him of 19 other bank robberies might be good to know, right?
Seems like that might be something that jurors would want before they put it to a vote, as it ties him to some sort of pattern. Who knows.
It’s up to the individual jurors and their conscience to process all of the evidence and determine who is likely to be telling the truth and who is likely to be lying.
But there’s no telling what a judge might determine, especially when an expensive defense team and national attention are involved.
We won’t know the ruling until March, and the retrial date is currently set at April 2nd.
If the judge allows the testimony from these 19 accusers, Cosby’s team has indicated that they will seek a postponement.
Monday, August 21, 2017
Bill Cosby Hires Michael Jackson Lawyer Tom Mesereau in Sexual Assault Retrial
Bill Cosby just scored one of the best criminal defense lawyers in the country to defend him in his sexual assault retrial … Tom Mesereau. We’re told Mesereau will be lead counsel in the retrial, set for November. Mesereau has won some legendary…
Friday, July 7, 2017
Bill Cosby Retrial Date Set!
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.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Famed Lawyer Tom Mesereau Says Bill Cosby Re-Trial "A Waste of Time"
Tom Mesereau, the lawyer who got Michael Jackson and Robert Blake off, thinks prosecutors in the Bill Cosby case are way off base trying to re-try him for sexual assault,. Mesereau, one of the best criminal defense lawyers in the country, makes it…
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Bill Cosby Trial, Mistrial Declared ... Re-Trial Promised
Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial has just ended … in a mistrial, but even before prosecutors heard the breakdown among jurors they declared they will re-try the comedian. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on any of the 3 sexual assault…
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