Bill Cosby, From Victimizer to Victim

Townhall.com ^ | May 26, 2016 | Debra J. Saunders

[Kaslin]

There is no doubt in my mind that Bill Cosby did a great deal of what his female accusers say he did -- i.e., drug and sexually assault them. There are dozens of accusers with similar stories, and the tales go back for decades. I confess, I didn't pay much attention to the story until one night, while channel surfing, I caught Cosby doing his comedy act and felt a cold brace of certainty that this man really hates women. Stars can have their pick of willing females; Cosby perversely preferred to trick, dope and violate unwitting victims. His goal was not his own satisfaction so much as their debasement.

Since an Associated Press suit prompted a federal judge to unseal a document last year in which Cosby, now 78, admitted to giving women drugs and having sex with them -- all consensual, he said -- the comedian effectively has been found guilty in the court of public opinion. His once-sterling reputation is tarnished beyond repair, and his career effectively finished. He had settled a civil lawsuit -- an admission, of sorts, of his liability. Cosby deserves the public shaming that will haunt his remaining time on earth.

Still, I think the prosecution of Cosby in a Norristown, Pennsylvania, court for the alleged 2004 sexual assault of Andrea Constand, then 30, goes too far.

For one thing, there is no physical evidence because Constand waited a year to report the incident to authorities. Ergo, then-Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor said there was not enough "credible" evidence to justify a prosecution.

or another, the prosecution is based on information obtained because prosecutors had made it known they would not use it in this case. Constand also filed a suit in civil court. Castor announced he would not prosecute in order to prompt Cosby to cooperate with Constand's attorneys and not invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Constand's attorney then cross-examined Cosby under oath for four days -- which netted the document mentioned above. Cosby settled the civil suit under an agreement that paid Constand an undisclosed sum and left the deposition sealed.

The case became a political football when a judge unsealed the deposition. As the DA ran for re-election, challenger Kevin Steele pledged to prosecute Cosby. Steele won the race and then charged Cosby, who denies any wrongdoing, with assault. If convicted, Cosby could spend up to 30 years in prison.

"This is a very messy situation," George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley told me. On the one hand, Cosby's attorneys never got prosecutors to sign a deal not to use the deposition in criminal court. On the other hand, Turley noted, such deals are "more common than people think. Most of these cases involve a handshake agreement between a prosecutor and a defense attorney."

A district attorney prodded a private citizen to forfeit a constitutional right based on an agreement that, Castor later testified, he believed was binding "for all time." If a different prosecutor can tear up that agreement just because he doesn't like it, Turley noted, it's almost a "bait and switch." The biggest kid on the block can take back his marbles on a whim.

You can argue that if the government is going to renege on a deal, it couldn't happen to a more deserving fellow. But what if the next person isn't so deserving?

[al baby]

First you put the pills in the people arggghhh

[MNDude]

In before “He’s being accused only because he went off the plantation!”

[Oratam]

I was watching a rerun of The Flip Wilson Show not too long ago and Cosby was his guest. In the middle of the episode, in a break from the comedy, Flip introduced Cosby's wife Camille, who was sitting in the front row, to the audience.

Mrs. Cosby wore a cold, smileless expression as the crowd applauded her for being married to Bill Cosby. It was odd.

[ml/nj]

There are dozens of accusers with similar stories.

Don't they all have the same lawyer?

ML/NJ

[patriot08]

All those women couldn’t be lying.
I hope the old pervert gets what he deserves.

[Boogieman]

“All those women couldn’t be lying.”

Why not? Are women incapable of lying, or of conspiring or jumping on a band wagon?

[Stevenc131]

We might be through with the past, but the past isn’t through with us.

[Theodore R.]

Cosby can call Mr. Bill (Clinton) as a character reference.

[patriot08]

You really believe all those women are lying-’jumping on the band wagon’- to sue, to make money?

No. Too many are testifying to the same the same treatment from Cosby- notable women, reliable, honest women, women who don’t need the money. Women who don’t want/need the ‘fame’.

[Boogieman]

“You really believe all those women are lying...”

I made no such assertions. You were the one who made the assertion that “All those women couldn’t be lying.”, which is simply false. They could be lying, or they could be telling the truth. All people have free will and all people are capable of choosing to deceive, both individually and in groups.

If it were otherwise, we could simply dispense with the justice system once a certain number of accusers stepped forward. Why waste all that time and money on a trial if “All those women couldn’t be lying”?

[patriot08]

With all due respect; your argument in defense of Cosby makes no sense.
There are just too many reliable witnesses.
This old pervert used his fame to lure innocent women into his clutches, doped them and molested them.
He’s guilty and I hope he suffers the consequences.

[binreadin]

Unfortunately, this type of behavior was all too common in Hollywood and elsewhere decades ago. I think it’s interesting that only Cosby is being prosecuted for his actions. What about all the people involved in the abuse of young underage actors? It’s well known that most of the young stars were sexually abused and given drugs and alcohol. Why aren’t those perpetrators being dragged through the mud like Cosby? Is it be because the latter group is Gay, or black, or just to rich and successful? I’m sick of the hypocrisy. Cosby pissed people off because he came down on the Black popular culture, and now he’s paying the price.

[Boogieman]

“With all due respect; your argument in defense of Cosby makes no sense.”

I’ve made no argument in defense of Cosby. I’ve just refuted your silly claims that people can’t lie because there is a big group of them claiming the same thing. Heck, all the BLM activists claim cops are out there murdering black kids for no reason, but that doesn’t make it true, anymore than the Cosby accuser’s claims are automatically true because a bunch of people are making similar claims.

Attitudes like yours are the reason that the founders enshrined due process protections in the bill of rights.

[arthurus]

My thoughts have been from the beginning that most of them are opportunists or they have been latched on to by lawyers who are opportunists. One or two may be telling the truth, maybe more, but it is a pretty sure thing that many are acting on the knowledge that he has large bank accounts that they would like to have transferred to their own accounts.