Bill Cosby Trial: Two Jurors Prevented a Guilty Verdict

[nux4lyfe]

Quote

This saddens me. I'm a Man and a human first, so obviously I'm against rape, sexual assaults, molestation, etc. However, there is much more to this story that a lot of you wont even understand. I don't even believe that in this day and time ppl brains even expand as far as this situation really goes. The reality is this man ‪#‎BILLCOSBY‬ was getting ready to take over a huge television network called ‪#‎NBC‬. Which would have open doors for ppl of color to be on a major television station much more often. He's was speaking on positive opportunities in the black community, on race issues and things he believed black ppl should do to get ahead. Then and ONLY then did these outlandish accusations from 30... THIRTY YEARS AGO come out about him. One by one. When a black man is "getting too big for his bridges" Hollywood, white America has to stop him. Now he's been indicted on charges for something allegedly happen 10 years ago. This 78, lets just say 80. This 80 year old man is now in prison on a 1 million dollar bail for extremely old UNPROVEN accusations. When he should be home preparing to die, because let's just face it, he's gonna die soon and now instead of dying for being one of the greatest of all time! For being a positive successful huge black public figure, he now has to die with this stigma on him as a serial rapist. Same thing they did to Michael Jackson. The craziest part is that they don't even have to try hard because black ppl doing the dirty work for them. Working against their own. Believing the hype. Black men, comedians, etc making jokes and accusing Bill. Black Women going against him don't even know the facts or wether it's even true. Just running w/accusations. Think about this ‪#‎StephenCollins‬ the father off "Seventh Heaven" was accused of and admitted to CHILD MOLESTATION and no one is talking about it. The show also airs faithfully on television still. That's what you call ‪#‎whiteprivilege‬. As long as black men are selling drugs and encouraging black ppl to do drugs and disrespecting our women and things like that they are ok with you. The minute you try to spread positivity into your black community and make major moves BE CAREFUL.

Sort of agree with this, at least the taking over NBC part..

[Offensive Threat]

1 hour ago, nux4lyfe said:

Sort of agree with this, at least the taking over NBC part..

 He had a new show set to air on NBC but how does that equal "taking over" the network? 

[Electro Rock]

I don't know what to think of the above but as a black celebrity in the U.S., especially going back a few decades, you're setting yourself up for potential trouble by flirting with or even casually hanging around white women.

Its a cultural thing.

[GLASSJAW]

what an utterly bizarre conversation on this page. "I'm a human being, so I hate rape. Buuuuut...." sure is a way to start a rant. 

Quote

This 78, lets just say 80. This 80 year old man is now in prison on a 1 million dollar bail for extremely old UNPROVEN accusations.

whether or not the accusations are for an old crime seems irrelevant, though many CDC'ers love to apologize for old people who got away with their crimes. the accusations definitely have weight - and some have been proven: http://variety.com/2015/biz/news/bill-cosby-admits-to-drugging-women-for-sex-report-1201534649/

we know for a fact that Cosby is a rapist, and we know for a fact he has attempted to rape others. applying a black victimhood narrative to it isn't going to change anything, nor should it shift the blame to the victims

[Alflives]

13 minutes ago, GLASSJAW said:

what an utterly bizarre conversation on this page. "I'm a human being, so I hate rape. Buuuuut...." sure is a way to start a rant. 

whether or not the accusations are for an old crime seems irrelevant, though many CDC'ers love to apologize for old people who got away with their crimes. the accusations definitely have weight - and some have been proven: http://variety.com/2015/biz/news/bill-cosby-admits-to-drugging-women-for-sex-report-1201534649/

we know for a fact that Cosby is a rapist, and we know for a fact he has attempted to rape others. applying a black victimhood narrative to it isn't going to change anything, nor should it shift the blame to the victims

Wow!  Is he convicted, or awaiting a trial, and being held on bail?

[Cerridwen]

Quote

Bill Cosby’s June trial for the alleged 2004 sexual assault of a then-Temple University employee is expected to last about two weeks, a Pennsylvania judge said today.

 

Jury screening for the trial scheduled for June 5 is likely to start May 22 or May 29 in the Pittsburgh-area Allegheny County, where jurors will be chosen, Judge Steven O’Neill said this morning in his Norristown, PA, courtroom. If convicted, Cosby could end up behind bars for up to a decade.

O’Neill’s declarations came at the beginning of a hearing Monday that saw Cosby back in court trying to limit what a jury may or may not hear of his past familiarity with date-rape drugs. Evidence that the 79-year-old actor’s lawyers want left out of the trial include excepts from books Cosby has penned and Larry King interviews he has given mentioning “Spanish fly” and a potentially damning 2005 civil case deposition that was made public in 2015 in which the actor discussed Quaaludes and revealed he used prescription drugs for having sex with women.

 

Despite more than 60 women going public during the past two years with stories of being assaulted by The Cosby Show creator, the Keystone State case is the only criminal one against Cosby. The actor was charged in the closing days of 2016, just before Pennsylvania’s 12-year statute of limitations on sex crimes in his case expired. He was arraigned December 30 and released on $1 million bail without entering a plea. In subsequent months, Cosby and his somewhat-revolving door of attorneys have tried a variety of methods and jurisdictions to get the case dismissed.

 

Accompanied today by an entourage of attorneys and aides, the actor arrived just before 9 AM ET at the suburban Philadelphia courthouse. Charged with three felony charges of second-degree aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand, Cosby is required by state law to appear at all the hearings in the matter – as he has done. As he also has in past hearings, the actor was chatting and laughing with members of his entourage inside and outside the courtroom.

 

Today’s hearing comes after a rare partial victory for Cosby in the controversial case as O’Neill late in February granted the actor’s request to have jury members brought in from other jurisdictions for the trial. However, at the same February 24 hearing, the judge rejected a request to change the venue.

 

That mixed result followed a much clearer win for Cosby on February 24, when O’Neill ordered that the actor only has to face testimony from one other woman who says he also assaulted her. Local DA Kevin Steele’s office had wanted a total of 13 other alleged Cosby victims to be able to take the stand with Constand to display the actor’s pattern of “prior bad acts.”

 

Mark Dent contributed to this report.

http://deadline.com/2017/04/bill-cosby-rape-trial-length-hearing-andrea-constand-1202059140/

 

 

[DonLever]

from CTV:

 

Maryclaire Dale And Michael R. Sisak, The Associated Press
Published Wednesday, June 7, 2017 9:11AM EDT
Last Updated Wednesday, June 7, 2017 1:48PM EDT

 

NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- Bill Cosby's chief accuser on Wednesday denied they had a romantic relationship before he allegedly drugged and assaulted her at his suburban Philadelphia home.

 

The defence resumed its cross-examination of Toronto native Andrea Constand one day after she broke her long public silence about Cosby by testifying that the comedian gave her three blue pills and then violated her with his fingers in 2004 as she lay paralyzed, unable to tell him to stop.

Cosby lawyer Angela Agrusa suggested that Constand, a 44-year-old former employee of the basketball program at Temple University, once enjoyed a romantic dinner at Cosby's home before the alleged assault.

 

"You were sitting by the fire. The room was dark. There was a nice mood ...," Agrusa began, paraphrasing Constand's 2005 statement to police.

"I don't know what that means," Constand said.

 

"The lights were dim and the fire was going," the lawyer continued.

"I don't really remember how dim the lights were, but I did have to eat my dinner," Constand said.

 

Agrusa also spent a painstaking hour going over Constand's phone records, hoping to show she changed her mind about the date she says Cosby assaulted her.

 

Cosby arrived at the courthouse Wednesday accompanied by actress Sheila Frazier, who starred with him in the 1978 comedy "California Suite." Frazier was accompanied by her husband, John Atchison, a celebrity hairstylist whose clients include Cosby and his wife, Camille.

Cosby, 79, is charged with aggravated indecent assault. The comedian once dubbed America's Dad could get 10 years in prison if convicted.

Constand managed the women's basketball team at Temple, Cosby's alma mater, while he was a high-profile trustee. She said on Tuesday that she felt her continued friendship with Cosby after the alleged assault was important to the school's athletic department.

 

His lawyers have tried to poke holes in Constand's story, citing differences between her courtroom testimony and the accounts she gave to police and in a lawsuit in 2005. The defence has argued the two had a romantic relationship, that Constand wasn't incapacitated and that the sexual encounter was consensual.

 

The defence has pointed out that phone records show Constand called Cosby 53 times after she says he assaulted her. Constand told the jury the calls mostly involved the women's basketball team, especially around tournament time.

 

Before Tuesday, Constand had never spoken about Cosby in public, barred from doing so under the terms of a confidential settlement they reached in 2006. Her deposition from that lawsuit remains sealed.

 

Some 60 women have come forward to say Cosby sexually violated them, all but destroying his nice-guy image, but the statute of limitations for prosecution had run out in nearly every case. Constand's case is the only one in which Cosby has been charged.

 

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are sexual assault victims unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.

[Toews]

How does the jury selection for such a trial work? Cosby is a known rapist, are they going to go through like 100s of people to find the rare person who doesn't know who he is? Either way I hope this is the end of this man.

[-DLC-]

On 2016-1-1 at 8:59 AM, Electro Rock said:

I don't know what to think of the above but as a black celebrity in the U.S., especially going back a few decades, you're setting yourself up for potential trouble by flirting with or even casually hanging around white women.

Its a cultural thing.

He didn't just hang out with them according to the allegations.  So, black or white it's fairly black and white...you can't drug and rape women.  

 

It's rape, not cultural.  Hate to cloud the issue or suggest there are reasons beyond that.

[Johnny Shotgun]

On 12/30/2015 at 5:43 PM, DonLever said:

I bet he gets off in this "trial of the decade".    Money gets the best lawyer as we saw in celebrity trials   OJ Simpson got off, Michael Jackson got off.  Mike Tyson faced a similar charge of rape and got convicted because he a had lousy lawyer.

The defense will rip into the victim by bringing up why did she took money from Cosby to settle the case.

It comes down to who say what.  Who has the jury will believe will decide the case.  

 

Maybe they can "reanimate" Johnny Cochrane and he can play the race card once again to a black jury.  Nah that ain't going to happen. 

[Johnny Shotgun]

20 hours ago, Toews said:

How does the jury selection for such a trial work? Cosby is a known rapist, are they going to go through like 100s of people to find the rare person who doesn't know who he is? Either way I hope this is the end of this man.

Justice is portrayed as balanced and impartial.  Reality is at least in jury trials, each side is trying to select jurors they believe most favourable to their goal. So what you get is a war of attrition between the the defense and the prosecution in the selection process. 

[DonLever]

From CBC:

 

For all the ways the judge in Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial has streamlined the case inside the courtroom, the frenzy outside grows larger and wilder each day of jury deliberations.

The media presence, large but manageable during five days of testimony last week, has ballooned as the verdict seems near. Hotel rooms are sold out for miles. Victim advocates grow in number on the courthouse steps, and the Cosby camp's spin grows louder.

• Cosby's lurid decade-old testimony about Canadian accuser read to jury
• Prosecutors rest case against Bill Cosby in sexual assault trial

Cosby arrived Wednesday morning for the start the third day of jury deliberations in his sexual assault trial, entering the suburban Philadelphia courthouse on the arm of his spokesman. The panel, which already has deliberated 16 hours over two days, went straight to the jury room for the resumption of talks.

 

Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt, who guides the vision-impaired Cosby throughout his day, has drawn throngs of cameras with his updates on Cosby's mood — "very confident," is a common refrain — and assertions that the 79-year-old comedian isn't getting a fair shake.

On Friday, he took to the steps to float the idea that Cosby might testify when the defense case opened on Monday. It never happened, but the suggestion was enough to dominate the headlines just as prosecutors were closing their case with Cosby's damaging deposition testimony.

"Cosby's team is trying to plant seeds of doubt about this trial with his fans so they don't abandon him. They're tugging on the heart strings of nostalgia," said David La Torre, who ran Penn State's public relations during the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. "Their parallel strategies make sense, given what's at stake for Mr. Cosby. He's fighting for his personal and professional lives."

 

On Tuesday, as jury deliberations stretched into a second day without signs of a verdict, Wyatt steered reporters to a former colleague of accuser Andrea Constand who said Constand had once suggested she would try to set up a famous man to get money. The judge had barred her hearsay testimony from the trial, but Wyatt made sure her statement got out.

 

Constand alleges Cosby gave her three sedatives he claimed were an herbal remedy and then groped her breast and genitals while she was paralyzed and unable to fight him off. Cosby said he was in a romantic relationship with the young staffer on the women's basketball team at his alma mater, Temple University, and that the encounter was consensual.

"If he's found guilty, his estate would likely take an enormous financial hit that would devastate his family. That's why their approach makes practical sense, even if it makes some feel uncomfortable," La Torre said.

 

Jurors appeared tired and spent when they decided to call it quits late Tuesday after about 16 hours of deliberations. They'll resume Wednesday morning.

The judge praised them for being remarkably conscientious as they consider three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault that could put Cosby in prison for the rest of his life.

The jury's day began Tuesday by reviewing more than a dozen passages from Cosby's decade-old deposition, including his telling Constand the pills were "three friends" to make her relax.

 

[kingofsurrey]

On 6/7/2017 at 1:00 PM, debluvscanucks said:

He didn't just hang out with them according to the allegations.  So, black or white it's fairly black and white...you can't drug and rape women.  

 

It's rape, not cultural.  Hate to cloud the issue or suggest there are reasons beyond that.

Thanks Deb.

 

Agree 100 %, no excuse for men that abuse women.  Horrific accusations if true.  

I do not understand how his wife can still be standing on his side in court. 

[DonLever]

The jury is deadlocked but the judge says keep trying.  Looks like there are some holdouts..

 

from CBC:

 

Jurors are deadlocked after 30 hours of deliberations in the Bill Cosby sex assault trial, but the judge told them Thursday to keep trying to reach a unanimous decision.

The panel deliberated about 30 hours over four days before telling Judge Steven O'Neill they couldn't reach a verdict on any of the three counts against the 79-year-old comedian.

The judge sent them back to the jury room to keep talking. 

 

As deliberations continued into a fourth day, nerves are frayed, patience is shot and no one knows when it will all end.

Some jurors appeared angry, the judge sounded exasperated and Canadian accuser Andrea Constand's mother broke down in tears Wednesday.

 

The sequestered jury has been working late into the night since getting the case Monday, pausing a half-dozen times to revisit key evidence, including Cosby's decade-old admissions that he fondled Constand after giving her pills.

O'Neill seemed vexed at times as the court staff struggled to answer the jury's requests. One batch of requested testimony hadn't even been transcribed yet.

[Alflives]

On 12/31/2015 at 10:52 PM, nux4lyfe said:

Sort of agree with this, at least the taking over NBC part..

Whoops. wrong one.  Sorry:(

[Gurn]

46 minutes ago, DonLever said:

The jury is deadlocked but the judge says keep trying.  Looks like there are some holdouts..

 

from CBC:

 

Jurors are deadlocked after 30 hours of deliberations in the Bill Cosby sex assault trial, but the judge told them Thursday to keep trying to reach a unanimous decision.

The panel deliberated about 30 hours over four days before telling Judge Steven O'Neill they couldn't reach a verdict on any of the three counts against the 79-year-old comedian.

The judge sent them back to the jury room to keep talking. 

 

As deliberations continued into a fourth day, nerves are frayed, patience is shot and no one knows when it will all end.

Some jurors appeared angry, the judge sounded exasperated and Canadian accuser Andrea Constand's mother broke down in tears Wednesday.

 

The sequestered jury has been working late into the night since getting the case Monday, pausing a half-dozen times to revisit key evidence, including Cosby's decade-old admissions that he fondled Constand after giving her pills.

O'Neill seemed vexed at times as the court staff struggled to answer the jury's requests. One batch of requested testimony hadn't even been transcribed yet.

After taking this long, how can they convict "beyond a reasonable doubt", as there seems to be some doubt? If convicted, Cos will get to stay out of prison during an appeal and may well die before this is finally resolved.

[-DLC-]

Mistrial .... Jesus.  So do they do it all again?

[JM_]

1 hour ago, debluvscanucks said:

Mistrial .... Jesus.  So do they do it all again?

apparently yes. Its so creepy and strange. 

[DonLever]

From CBC:

 

Prosecutors say they will retry Bill Cosby after a judge was forced to declare a mistrial in his sexual assault case because of a deadlocked jury unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

"Our plan is to move this case forward as soon as possible," Montgomery County, Pa. district attorney Kevin Steele said in a news conference after the decision.

The district attorney's office also tweeted that a new trial date would be set and that Cosby was out on bail. The disgraced actor remains charged with three counts of aggravated aggravated indecent assault

Jurors spent six days and more than 50 hours deliberating on whether the 79-year-old star of popular 80s and 90s sitcom The Cosby Show drugged and assaulted Canadian woman Andrea Constand, a Temple University employee, in 2004.

"We are confident that these proceedings have given a voice to the many victims who felt powerless and silenced," Constand's lawyer said in a statement on behalf of his client, thanking the jury for "their tireless efforts" and "sacrifice."

cent assault.

 

Cosby's wife of 53 years, Camille, released a seemingly hostile statement read by a member of her public relations firm.

"How do I describe the district attorney? Heinously and exploitively ambitious. How do I describe the judge? Overtly arrogant and collaborating with the district attorney. How do I describe the counsels for the accusers? Totally unethical. How do I describe general media? Blatantly vicious."

[Alflives]

5 hours ago, debluvscanucks said:

Mistrial .... Jesus.  So do they do it all again?

Maybe more victims will testify?