Cosby found guilty on all counts

[pokerplayer]

It's a victory not just for Andrea Constand — but scores of other women accusing Bill Cosby of sexual misconduct stretching back decades.

After less than two days of deliberations, a Pennsylvania jury Thursday found Cosby guilty on all counts of drugging and sexually assaulting the former Temple University staffer inside his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004.

The long-awaited verdict represents the first — and possibly last — criminal conviction for the disgraced comedian, despite dozens of women who've accused him of similar misdeeds.

Cosby, 80, was first charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault in December 2015, just days before the 12-year statute of limitations on the crime ran out.

 

© AFP/Getty Images Andrea Constand exits the courtroom during a break in comedian Bill Cosby's retrial.

 

He quickly pleaded not guilty, claiming Constand was his willing sex partner.

Constand, 45, gave a much different account during emotional and sometimes grueling testimony spread over two trials almost a year apart.

The former head of women's basketball operations at Temple said she considered Cosby a mentor and father figure the night he offered her three unidentified blue pills he referred to as "your friends."

Constand said she thought the pills were herbal remedies for stress and was stunned and confused when they caused her words to slur and her vision to blur, she told the jury of five women and seven men in Norristown, Pa.

Constand recalled feeling powerless as Cosby groped her breasts, penetrated her with his fingers and masturbated himself with her hand.

"I wanted it to stop," Constand testified two weeks ago. "I was weak. I was limp, and I could not fight him off."

The charges against Cosby each carried a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Considering the comedian's advanced age, his conviction could mean he'll end up spending the rest of his life in jail.

At his first trial last June, a jury deadlocked after six days of marathon deliberations.

This time around, the sequestered jury reached its unanimous verdict after a 12-day trial that included new testimony from five additional accusers, including former supermodel Janice Dickinson.

Throughout the trial, Cosby's lawyers argued Constand was a "con artist" who framed the "Cosby Show" star for money.

They fixated on the $3.38 million settlement she received to end her 2005 lawsuit and claimed she made a series of inconsistent statements.

In the end, the proof was in the pudding pop pitchman's own words.

The jurors heard that Cosby himself told police in a 2005 interview that he gave Constand a medication without explaining what it was. They also heard that he admitted during a follow-up civil deposition that he obtained seven prescriptions for quaaludes in the 1970s so he could give the now-banned sedative to women he found sexually attractive.

Cosby did not testify in his own defense during either of his trials.

Authorities originally declined to charge Cosby in 2005, but Constand's case got revived as more than 50 accusers stepped from the shadows starting in late 2014.

 

When prosecutors finally filed their criminal complaint, they said a major factor in their decision was Cosby's own deposition admission that he stockpiled the quaaludes.

In his depositions, Cosby said he kept the powerful drugs on hand to offer them to women, "The same as a person would say, 'Have a drink.'"

In closing arguments Tuesday, Montgomery County Deputy District Attorney Kristen Feden wrested back the "con artist" moniker that Cosby's defense lawyer Tom Mesereau gave to Constand in his opening statement.

"Yes, you did hear about a con," Feden said Tuesday as she pointed to Cosby in the courtroom gallery. "The perpetrator of that con is this man, sitting right here."

 

 

 

 

 

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[umbertino]

 

Thanks for sharing, PP....Sorry...Ran out of pluses ( as usual)....Ciao

[bostonangler]

Dang... What a disgrace he ended up being... Drugging chicks to get laid... Not funny Bill!!!

 

B/A

Edited April 26, 2018 by bostonangler

[umbertino]

1 minute ago, bostonangler said:

Dang... What a disgrace he ended up being... Drugging chicks to get laid... Not funny Bill!!!

 

B/A

 

 

Agreed...Not funny at all....Effing bad infact....Just like those men who  pour  stuff in a woman's glass ....Rape. Period

[Floridian]

You never know what people are really like.

This guy was "America's Dad".

He turned out to be such a disappointment and a loser.

Cosby, Weinstein, Spacey and all the rest.  Give them money, fame and power and they think they can do whatever they want, no matter who they hurt.

It's disgusting!

[skeetdog]

Thanks PP...Got to admit...when this does hit...There is something on the ol' bucket-list...Willy once asked..."Why do you pay $1500 to some "Lady's of the Nite"....

[umbertino]

Bill Cosby's verdict is a rare moment of justice in a long, uphill battle

 

Most of the women who shared their stories as part of #MeToo won’t see their attackers in jail. We can’t let one man’s downfall distract us from the task ahead

 

Thu 26 Apr 2018 19.57 BST Last modified on Thu 26 Apr 2018 22.46 BST

By  Jessica Valenti

 

 

‘Despite Cosby’s guilt, and probable jail time, the truth is that there has been very little in the way of justice for the many, many women who have come forward.’

Photograph: Pool/Reuters

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/26/bill-cosbys-verdict-rare-justice

 

 

[umbertino]

I worked with Bill Cosby, and I saw his dark side

 

Working on films with the disgraced comedian in the 1970s and 1980s, I witnessed his attitude towards women

 

Fri 27 Apr 2018 17.44 BST Last modified on Fri 27 Apr 2018 17.45 BST

By  Candace Allen

 

 

 

From left, Caroline Heldman, Lili Bernard, and Victoria Valentino react after Bill Cosby was found guilty at the end of his sexual assault retrial in Norristown, Pennsylvania on 26 April 2018

Photograph: Mark Makela/Getty Images

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/27/bill-cosby-dark-side-disgraced-comedian-women

[umbertino]

How Bill Cosby went from 'America's dad' to convicted sex offender

 

Before his dramatic downfall, culminating in a guilty verdict, Cosby seemed to be at the peak of what had been an extraordinary public life

 

 

Fri 27 Apr 2018 16.59 BST

Lucia Graves

 

 

 

Bill Cosby leaves his sexual assault trial in Norristown, Pennsylvania on Thursday

Photograph: Matt Slocum/AP

 

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/27/how-bill-cosby-went-from-americas-dad-to-convicted-sex-offender

[Gypsygirl11]

What a blankety blank! He will just be a celebrity in jail...at least he will be locked up though.

[pokerplayer]

I am appalled at what he did. I use to idolized him for his clean Comedy acts. I feel sorry for the women who had to relive the horror of what he did.

 

As long as he is truly guilty, then he is getting what he deserves.

 

   pp

[umbertino]

8 minutes ago, pokerplayer said:

I am appalled at what he did. I use to idolized him for his clean Comedy acts. I feel sorry for the women who had to relive the horror of what he did.

 

As long as he is truly guilty, then he is getting what he deserves.

 

   pp

 

Thanks PP...And understood....It's only human to do that....

 

Many or most times we tend to take People ( esp. known and famed ones, but also everybody else) for granted in that we think they're usually good Folks....That is because  we are  in general Good People and so we like thinking the others are too....It's normal.....

 

Then we get really stunned when we learn it's not that way sometimes...We feel betrayed  kinda......

Edited April 28, 2018 by umbertino