Posted on 06/17/2017 4:08:31 AM PDT by SkyPilot
The delicate issue of race has percolated beneath the surface of the Bill Cosby jury selection process, present but unspoken, ever since 100 citizens filed into a grand old downtown courthouse here early Monday morning.
It was impossible to miss that nearly half the black potential jurors settled into the same row together at the back of a large courtroom where the pool first met. Once individual questioning began, prosecutors used their first of seven possible strikes to block a black juror from being seated.
But on Tuesday, the issue of race was catapulted to the center of the trial. Defense attorneys sharply accused the Montgomery County, Pa., District Attorney’s office of engaging in the “systematic exclusion of African Americans” from the jury, an explosive charge that prosecutors vigorously disputed and that the judge in the case ultimately rejected.
The late-afternoon showdown over race underscored one of the more complex challenges in the early stages of a case in which every detail, every nuance, every fact is under intense scrutiny. Court officials here have spent two full days trying to select 12 jurors and six alternates, but they left Tuesday night having seated just 11: seven white men, three white women and one black woman.
Cosby injected race into the case even before jury selection began. In a radio interview, days before the trial started, the 79-year-old entertainer blamed racism for the scandal that has seen him accused of sexual misdeeds by 60 women over five decades and criminally charged for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting a woman who worked for Temple University. The alleged victim, Andrea Constand, is white — a fact noted by the judge during arguments over seating black jurors. (Cosby has denied ever sexually assaulting women.)
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I actually was on a jury just once. The sole black was the one going for the bogus claim until we eventually, slowly and carefully, brought him over to the clear side of the law.
I would not vote to convict him either.
The accuser lied. Repeatedly.
FREE COSBY !!!
I don’t suppose the time lag between the alleged event(s) and the complaint, along with changing stories has anything to do with it. My heart says he’s guilty but my brain recognizes that there has not been proof beyond reasonable doubt and that to work properly, our Justice system demands that it is better to let a 100 guilty go free than to wrongly punish one innocent - hence the requirement to prove beyond reasonable doubt....vs. convincing folks with emotional diatribes.
Let me guess...
It’s ok if a black man drugs and rapes women, especially white women?
If the reverse happens, kill him...
Right?
His accusers were not innocent farm girls drawn by the magnetic allure of the big city and stardom. They were big girls who knew they were getting into dating a married star.
So they came up to the famous man’s hotel room for what reason?
Please. Get a grip.
A lot of sin all around. This was an era when tranks were passed around like candy, unfortunately numbing moral senses. The wickedness will dog and darken Cosby’s life to the end even if no human court convicts him, unless he is zealous and repents. The worst cases may be God’s alone being too much for man.
"Explosive charge" my foot. This legal tactic is so common it has a name. It's a Batson challenge.
Any attorney who did not raise this when he's defending a black client would probably be guilty of malpractice.
The WaPo is either ignorant or looking to stir the pot. Given it's sordid history, I vote for #2.
It seems almost positively sure he was embroiled in deep sin. Sometimes sin can be so deep as to be untouchable by men who fail to fear the Lord. This might be our situation. Before God he does not skate and he must be willing to be steered into repentance if he is to be forgiven.
And it would echo into possible appellate proceedings. The appellate court can also weigh in on Batson
It’s a shame but sin has done this to a willing mankind.
It is funny, a kind of Batson challenge doesn’t apply to me.
I’ve sat in several jury pools over the years and one of the first questions either the defense or prosecution ask is(I’m guessing this based on who thinks they have the weaker case): Do any of you have law or pre-Law degree or significant legal training? (I am one class short of a pre-law degree)
I’d raise my hand.
“Dismissed!”
Every story today by the MSM is written with such hyperbole it sounds like the end of the world. It's the nexus of click-bait adjectives, historical ignorance, and vacuous journalism.
I collared the lawyers afterwards and asked, "What WERE you thinking?" They said they had other panel members they needed to get rid of worse than they needed to get rid of me (they were right. It was a bad panel. Lots of students, housewives, millennials. Those sorts generally lack the practical business/real life experience to do the job.)
60 women just don’t claim rape. This SOB is a disgrace. What troubles me is Hefner damn sure had to be aware of complaints.
Certainly not 60 women who were in a position to make a credible claim, often with contemporaneous corroboration.
I cant believe Cosby made a race card play like that.
That really thought he at least was above that crap.
60 women just don’t make up rape by one man. This SOB is a disgrace. What troubles me is Hefner damn sure had to be aware of complaints.
Crosby’s peers are WHITE. That’s who he spent his entire adult life with...so the jury should be white.
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