(Black serial rapist) Bill Cosby in the news

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/201...ing-arguments/

Bill Cosby’s Wife Accompanies Actor For First Time During Sex Assault Retrial Ahead Of Closing Arguments
April 24, 2018 at 10:33 am

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS/AP) — For the first time during his sexual assault retrial, Bill Cosby was accompanied by his wife of more than 50 years as they walked into a courthouse Tuesday morning ahead of closing arguments.

Camille Cosby had been absent from the courtroom as prosecutors called a series of women to the stand who testified her husband drugged and sexually assaulted them, but she was by his side Tuesday for the trial’s conclusion.

The jury that will start deliberating Cosby’s fate has heard the comedian described over the past two weeks both as a “serial rapist” and a con artist’s victim.

They have seen a half-dozen accusers testify that the man once revered as “America’s Dad” had a sordid secret life that involved preying on women for his own sexual gratification. And they have heard from a witness who says his chief accuser talked about framing a high-profile person to score a big payday.

Now, seven men and five women who have been kept in a suburban Philadelphia hotel, away from family, friends and daily routines, will get to have their say in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

“You now have all of the evidence,” Judge Steven O’Neill told them after Cosby’s lawyers rested on Monday without calling the 80-year-old comedian to the stand. “Try to relax, so that you’re on your game tomorrow.”

Jurors could be in for a marathon.

Before going off to deliberate, they will hear both sides rehash the case in lengthy closing arguments, and they will get O’Neill’s instructions in the law.

Cosby is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault — all stemming from Andrea Constand’s allegations that he knocked her out with three pills he called “your friends” and molested her at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in January 2004.

Each count carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Cosby has said he gave Constand 1½ tablets of the over-the-counter cold and allergy medicine Benadryl to help her relax before what he called a consensual sexual encounter.

The jury in Cosby’s first trial weighed the evidence for more than 52 hours over six days without reaching a verdict.

This time, both sides have given the retrial jury much more to consider.

Prosecutors were able to call five additional accusers who testified that Cosby also drugged and violated them — including one woman who asked him through her tears, “You remember, don’t you, Mr. Cosby?”

Cosby’s new defense team, led by Michael Jackson lawyer Tom Mesereau, countered with a far more robust effort at stoking doubts about Constand’s credibility and raising questions about whether Cosby’s arrest was even legal.

The defense’s star witness was a former colleague of Constand who says Constand spoke of leveling false sexual assault accusations against a high-profile person for the purpose of filing a civil suit. Constand got a civil settlement of nearly $3.4 million from Cosby.

Both juries also heard from Cosby himself — not on the witness stand, but via an explosive deposition he gave in 2005 and 2006 as part of Constand’s civil suit against him. In it, Cosby acknowledged he gave the sedative quaaludes to women before sex in the 1970s.

Cosby’s lawyers devoted the last two days of their case to travel records they say prove he could not have been at his suburban Philadelphia home in January 2004. They argue that any encounter there with Constand would have happened earlier, outside the statute of limitations.

Cosby’s private jet records and travel itineraries produced by Cosby’s lawyers do not show any flights in or out of the Philadelphia area in January 2004, but they have large gaps — a total of 17 days that month in which Cosby was not traveling, performing or taping TV appearances.

District Attorney Kevin Steele noted that the records do not account for other ways Cosby could have gotten to Philadelphia.

“You can’t tell us whether he got on a commercial flight,” Steele said, questioning a defense aviation expert. “You can’t tell us whether he got on a train. You can’t tell us whether he got in a car and drove to Philadelphia.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2018/04/23/defense-resumes-cosby-trial/

Cosby Retrial: Defense Rests; Cosby Doesn’t Testify
April 23, 2018 at 5:18 pm

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS/AP) — Closing arguments are set to begin in Bill Cosby’s sex assault retrial as the defense rested their case on Monday.

“You now have all of the evidence,” Judge Steven O’Neill told jurors, sending them back to their hotel after an abbreviated day of testimony. “Try to relax, so that you’re on your game tomorrow.”

Closing arguments will be held Tuesday in the case that pits the “Cosby Show” star once known as America’s Dad against a woman who says he drugged her at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004, then sexually assaulted her while she was unable to resist or say no.

Cosby, 80, didn’t take the stand at his first trial, either. That one ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked on three related counts of aggravated indecent assault. If convicted, Cosby could get up to 10 years in prison on each count.

Jurors heard testimony from 25 witnesses over the course of about two weeks.

Chief accuser Andrea Constand told her story to the jury, as did five other women who say Cosby drugged and assaulted them, too.

Jurors also heard from Cosby himself, in the form of an explosive deposition he gave in 2005 and 2006 as part of Constand’s civil suit against him. In it, Cosby acknowledged he gave the sedative quaaludes to women before sex in the 1970s.

Cosby has said he gave a cold and allergy medicine to Constand to help her relax before what he called a consensual sexual encounter.

The star defense witness was a former colleague of Constand who says Constand spoke of leveling false sexual assault accusations against a high-profile person for the purpose of filing a civil suit. Constand got a civil settlement of nearly $3.4 million from Cosby.

On Monday, the judge did not allow his lawyers to introduce testimony they say would shed light on the possible motivation of the comedian’s chief accuser. The defense wanted jurors to hear deposition testimony from Andrea Constand’s friend, Sheri Williams. Cosby’s lawyers said Williams hasn’t responded to subpoenas.

They wanted Williams’ testimony to rebut Constand’s claims that she was unaware Cosby was romantically interested in her. They said Williams would show Constand “could not have been the unwitting victim” prosecutors have portrayed.

As the trial wound down Monday, prosecutors highlighted gaps in Cosby’s travel records.

Cosby’s lawyers introduced the records in an attempt to show he couldn’t have been at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in January 2004, the month Constand alleges he drugged and sexually molested her there.

But prosecutors pointed out multiple stretches of time that month when Cosby wasn’t aboard his private jet or performing around the country. And District Attorney Kevin Steele noted in court Monday that the records reflect only jet travel, not other modes of transportation.

The date of Cosby’s encounter with Constand is important because of when he was charged. Prosecutors reopened the case in 2015, and he was charged late that year — just before the 12-year statute of limitations was set to expire.

The flight records and travel itineraries produced by Cosby’s lawyers do not show any flights in or out of the Philadelphia area in January 2004, indicating he wasn’t around for the alleged assault, according to the defense. Cosby’s lawyers argue that any encounter with Constand at his suburban home must have happened earlier, thus falling outside the statute of limitations.

But the records also have large gaps — a total of 17 days that month in which Cosby wasn’t traveling, performing or taping TV appearances.

Cross-examining a defense aviation expert, Steele, the prosecutor, zeroed in on March 16, 2004, the date Constand said she confronted Cosby after a dinner he hosted at a Chinese restaurant for Philadelphia high school students.

Cosby’s private jet records don’t show him taking any flights to the Philadelphia area around that time, either.

“You can’t tell us whether he got on a commercial flight,” Steele said. “You can’t tell us whether he got on a train. You can’t tell us whether he got in a car and drove to Philadelphia.”

Jurors also heard Monday from Roslyn Yarbrough, a former secretary for Cosby’s agent, who testified that Cosby spent most of his time at his Massachusetts estate and New York City townhouse, and was “very rarely” at the home near Philadelphia.

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

 

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2018/04/25/jury-deliberations-to-start-in-cosby-retrial/

Jury Deliberations To Start In Cosby Retrial
April 25, 2018 at 10:00 am

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS/AP) — Bill Cosby’s fate will soon be in the hands of a jury.

Jurors at Cosby’s sexual assault retrial are poised to start deliberating after a marathon day of closing arguments that portrayed the comedian both as a calculating predator who’s finally being brought to justice and the victim of a multimillion-dollar frame-up by a “pathological liar.”

The seven men and five women sequestered at a suburban Philadelphia hotel will start weighing charges on Wednesday in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era. They begged off a late Tuesday start, saying they were exhausted from 5½ hours of arguments.

Cosby gave a quick fist pump and sashayed toward well-wishers chanting “We love Bill!” as he arrived at the courthouse on a rainy Wednesday morning.

The prosecution and defense gave jurors lots to think about after a two-week trial pitting Cosby, the 80-year-old comedian once revered as “America’s Dad,” against Andrea Constand, a former Temple University sports administrator who testified that he knocked her out with three pills he called “your friends” and molested her at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in January 2004.

“The time for the defendant to escape justice is over. It’s finally time for the defendant to dine on the banquet of his own consequences,” prosecutor Stewart Ryan said, imploring jurors to stand with Constand, look Cosby in the eye and “tell him the truth about what he did.”

Cosby’s lawyers argued that the charges were based on “flimsy, silly, ridiculous evidence.”

This time, prosecutors had five other women testify that Cosby drugged and violated them. One accuser asked him through tears, “You remember, don’t you, Mr. Cosby?” Cosby’s lawyers, who contend the encounter was consensual, called a woman who said Constand spoke of framing a high-profile person to sue and extract a big settlement.

None of that was allowed at Cosby’s streamlined first trial, which ended in a hung jury last year after deliberations over six days. Nor were jurors told the amount of Cosby’s 2006 civil settlement with Constand: nearly $3.4 million, which defense lawyer Tom Mesereau on Tuesday called “one of the biggest highway robberies of all time.”

“I have never seen or heard of a retrial that was as different as this was from the first trial,” said lawyer Dennis McAndrews, who’s been in court following the retrial and is not associated with either side. “The prosecution now had multiple victims and the defense had the issue of money, which were powerful weapons for both sides.”

Cosby faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault, each carrying up to 10 years in prison. His wife of 54 years, Camille, looked on from the gallery as his lawyers pleaded with the jury to clear him, the first time she has attended the trial. She also sat in for the defense’s closing argument at his first trial.

Camille Cosby, 74, had stayed away as the prosecution built its case that her husband maintained a sordid double life, plying women with drugs and preying on them sexually. Before the jury came in, she put her arm around Cosby, who is legally blind. They smiled and chatted, and he gave her a peck on the cheek. When it was the prosecution’s turn to argue, she left the courtroom, and Constand entered.

“You’re dealing with a pathological liar, members of the jury,” said Mesereau, who won an acquittal in Michael Jackson’s 2005 child molestation case. “You are.”

Prosecutor Kristen Feden called Cosby the true con artist — wresting that label from Cosby’s lawyers, who had applied it to Constand throughout the trial.

“Yes, you did hear about a con,” Feden said, her voice rising as she moved toward Cosby and pointed at him. “The perpetrator of that con is this man, sitting right here.”

She warned that the man trusted for his role as genial, sweater-wearing Dr. Cliff Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” is “nothing like the image that he played on TV.”

The defense highlighted more than a dozen inconsistencies in what Constand has said over the years and painstakingly reviewed phone and travel records, saying they prove the alleged assault couldn’t have happened when she says it did. They argued that he was charged after the 12-year statute of limitations for prosecuting him had run out.

 

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/20...secutor-closing-argument-sex-assault-retrial/

Bill Cosby Yelled At By Prosecutor During Closing Argument For Apparently Laughing
By Joe Holden
April 24, 2018 at 6:00 pm

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) — There were fireworks in the courtroom on Tuesday as the prosecution and defense delivered closing arguments in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault retrial.

Assistant District Attorney Kristen Feden yelled at Bill Cosby during her closing argument, as she scolded him for apparently laughing.

“There’s nothing funny about it, Mr. Cosby,” said Feden, her voice raised.

Channeling the accounts of Andrea Constand and five other women, Feden assailed Cosby’s legal team, singling out Kathleen Bliss.

“The character assassination Ms. Bliss put those women through, it was utterly shameful,” Feden said in the courtroom. “She is the exact reason why women and men and victims of sexual assault don’t report these crimes.”

Defense attorneys for Cosby were laser-focused on Constand’s credibility – a familiar theme through the trial.

“This woman will say anything. She will absolutely say anything. She is a pathological liar,” said attorney Tom Mesereau.

They described the state’s evidence as “flimsy and silly” and used calendars and phone records, submitting Cosby wasn’t in Philadelphia when the alleged 2004 assault happened.

Dolores Troiani, who represented Constand when she first made reports to law enforcement, said this retrial has been “nasty.”

“I think the big takeaway is how nasty this trial has been. At some point in time, people keep saying, ‘Oh my gosh, why do women delay?’ Well, this is the reason why women delay,” explained Troiani.

Attorneys encouraged jurors to challenge the allegations Cosby repeatedly drugged and sexually assaulted women for decades.

Mindful of the “Me Too” movement, Bliss said, “Yes, we do have to deal with sexual assault, it’s a worldwide problem, but questioning an accuser is not shaming a victim. Gut feelings are not rational decisions, mob rule is not due process.”

Camille Cosby was also in the courtroom during closing arguments. She did embrace her husband and left as the prosecution took over.

 

[The Bobster]

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/new...lt-Retrial-Deliberations-Day-2-480911201.html

Jurors Deciding Bill Cosby's Fate Enter Day 2 of Deliberations
The jury outside Philadelphia worked more than 10 hours before calling it a night late Wednesday
By Michael R. Sisak and Claudia Lauer
Published 6 hours ago | Updated 2 hours ago

Jurors in Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial kicked off a second day of deliberations by revisiting the testimony of a star defense witness who said accuser Andrea Constand once spoke of framing a prominent person to score a big payday.

The seven men and five women were to have Marguerite Jackson's testimony read back to them when court resumes on Thursday, after a marathon, 10-hour first day of deliberations failed to yield a verdict in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era.

Cosby twice said "good morning" as he entered the courthouse Thursday.

Exhausted jurors called it a night after rehearing excerpts from Cosby's old deposition testimony.

They included his version of what happened the night Constand says he drugged her with three pills and molested her at his suburban Philadelphia home in January 2004, and his admission that he gave quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with in the 1970s.

Cosby gave the deposition more than a decade ago as part of Constand's civil suit against him, which he settled in 2006 for nearly $3.4 million.

He has said his encounter with Constand was consensual.

Constand, a former Temple University sports administrator, was in the courtroom on Wednesday as jurors asked to rehear Jackson's testimony that she mused about fabricating sexual assault allegations to "get that money" from a civil suit.

Jackson, an academic adviser at the school, testified for about 1½ hours last week. She was immediately challenged by prosecutors who produced travel records suggesting she wasn't on the Feb. 1, 2004 women's basketball trip to Rhode Island where she says the conversation took place.

As jurors started weighing charges that could put Cosby in prison for the rest of his life, the 80-year-old comedian's lawyers came under fire for what some called a blatant attempt to "victim-shame" women who've leveled accusations against him.

In their closing argument after two weeks of testimony, Cosby's lawyers launched a withering attack on Constand and five other women who told the jury that the former TV star had drugged and assaulted them, too.

Defense attorney Kathleen Bliss chastised Constand for "cavorting around with a married man old enough to be her grandfather." She derided the other women as homewreckers and suggested they made up their stories in a bid for money and fame.

She questioned the "personal morality" of one accuser and called another, model Janice Dickinson, a "failed starlet" and "aged-out model" who "sounds as though she slept with every man on the planet."

And she slammed the #MeToo movement itself, calling Cosby its victim and likening it to a witch hunt or a lynching.

"They're playing on the same old myths that have been protecting perpetrators for centuries," said Kristen Houser of the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. She said the defense's closing argument was filled with "rampant and ingrained" misconceptions about sexual assault and victim behavior.

"It was not only an attack on these six accusers," Houser said, "it was a verbal slap to survivors all across this country."

Gloria Allred, the lawyer for three of the women who testified, blasted the defense's closing as "victim-shaming and victim-blaming" and said Cosby's lawyers had smeared her clients in a win-at-all-cost effort at an acquittal.

Perhaps anticipating the criticism, Bliss told jurors in her closing that "questioning an accuser is not blaming the victim."

Cosby spokeswoman Ebonee Benson said: "There is no assassination of any character."

Bill James, a defense lawyer in Little Rock, Arkansas, said vigorous advocacy is a defense lawyer's job.

Attacking an accuser's credibility — especially if there are no other witnesses and no physical evidence — is standard practice in sexual assault cases, he said.

"What's good taste and what's aggressive representation are not always the same," he said. "In a criminal case you have a greater obligation to go after a witness's credibility because you're dealing with someone's freedom."

In her own closing argument, Cosby prosecutor Kristen Feden rebuked Bliss for engaging in "utterly shameful" and "filthy" character assassination of Constand and the others.

"She is the exact reason why women don't report these crimes," Feden said.

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

 

[voiceofreason]

http://6abc.com/bill-cosby-guilty-on-all-charges-in-sexual-assault-retrial/3394442/

Jury finds Bill Cosby guilty on all charges in sex assault retrial

4/26/18

NORRISTOWN, Pa. --
Bill Cosby was convicted Thursday of drugging and molesting a woman in the first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era, completing the spectacular late-life downfall of a comedian who broke racial barriers in Hollywood on his way to TV superstardom as America's Dad.

Cosby, 80, could end up spending his final years in prison after a jury concluded he sexually violated Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. He claimed the encounter was consensual.

Cosby stared straight ahead as the verdict was read, but moments later lashed out loudly at District Attorney Kevin Steele and called him an "a--hole" after the prosecutor asked that the former TV star be immediately jailed because he might flee. Cosby denied he has an airplane and shouted, "I'm sick of him!"

 

[The Bobster]

https://pagesix.com/2018/04/26/bill...05.964875080.1524681478-2035907743.1524681478

Bill Cosby found guilty of drugging, molesting woman
By Emily Saul
April 26, 2018 | 1:51pm | Updated

NORRISTOWN, Pa. – Nearly 14 years after Bill Cosby drugged and molested a woman 30 years his junior, a jury found him guilty Thursday of all charges in his sex assault retrial.

The disgraced comedian showed no emotion and looked down at the table in front of him as the jury forewoman read aloud “guilty” to all three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault.

One of his victims, Lili Bernard, burst into tears as the verdicts were read, prompting Judge Steven O’Neill to call for order in the Montgomery County courtroom. Bernard was sobbing as she was escorted out of the courtroom.

Cosby’s chief accuser, Andrea Constand, sat stone-faced in the first row but tilted her head back and breathed a sigh of relief after jurors were formally polled. She took a moment to hug Dolores Troiani, the lawyer who represented her in her civil lawsuit against Cosby and took a deposition of the comedian in which he admitted to drugging women he wanted to sleep with.

The convicted pervert now faces up to 10 years behind bars on each of the three counts.

He was allowed to remain free on $1 million bail despite a fight from prosecutors who said he was a flight risk and someone with “limitless wealth” and a private plane. The argument prompted an chimpout from Cosby, who stood up and yelled, “He doesn’t have a plane, you a–hole! That shows what you know!”

Cosby was ordered to surrender his passport and stay in Montgomery County pending his sentencing date, which was not set.

The reckoning comes following the disgraced comic’s second trial, and just over 14 hours of deliberations by a panel of five women and seven men.

O’Neill ruled that jurors’ identities will remain anonymous.

“This is an extraordinary case,” the judge said, before thanking them for their service.

Cosby was seen smiling and laughing with his lead attorney, Tom Mesereau, in the courtroom before he was ushered into a back room to wait for a probation officer.

He emerged emotionless outside the courthouse — to a swarm of protesters and news reporters — with his publicist and defense team, including Mesereau, the white-haired lawyer who notably got Michael Jackson acquitted of child molestation charges.

“We don’t think Mr. Cosby is guilty of anything. The fight is not over,” Mesereau told reporters, as an enraged protester screamed, “I hope you choke to death on a pudding pop!”

Cosby climbed into a waiting SUV with his publicist and sped away — without saying a word.

Constand, now 45, bravely took the stand to publicly relay for a second time her recollection of the horrifying 2004 attack.

The former Temple University basketball administrator told jurors she took three blue pills from Cosby, which she thought were herbal, to help with stress while at his Cheltenham, Pennsylvania home in January 2004.

She said her mouth became “cottony,” and her legs “rubbery,” and was helped by the then-67-year-old to a couch before she slipped into darkness.

“I was kind of, um, jolted awake, and felt Mr. Cosby on the couch behind me, and my vagina was being penetrated quite forcefully,” Constand testified. “I felt my breasts being touched. And he took my hand, and placed my hand on his penis, and masturbated himself with my hand. And I was not able to do anything about it.”

In what proved to be a turning point for prosecutors, five other Cosby accusers were allowed to testify at this trial — supermodel Janice Dickinson, Heidi Thomas, Chelan Lasha, Janice Baker-Kinney and Maude Lise-Lotte Lublin.

They each testified that the actor once revered as “America’s Dad” slipped them pills and sexually assaulted them.

Cosby has been accused of drugging and sexually assaulting some 60 women.

His first trial last year ended in a hung jury after jurors were unable to reach a verdict.

 

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2018/04/26/temple-university-bill-cosby-honorary-degree/

Temple University Considers Rescinding Bill Cosby’s Honorary Degree Following Guilty Verdict
April 26, 2018 at 11:31 pm

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Temple University is considering rescinding Bill Cosby’s honorary degree after a jury found him guilty of sexual assault.

A jury convicted the 80-year-old actor and comedian on Thursday on three counts of aggravated indecent assault. Cosby was found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple employee Andrea Constand at his home in 2004.

“Temple University respects today’s decision reached by the jury in the Bill Cosby case. Today’s decision provides additional facts for the university to consider with respect to Bill Cosby’s honorary degree,” Cosby’s alma mater said in a statement.

Cosby had been a big part of the university for years. He was on the Board of Trustees from 1982 to 2014 until he was forced to resign when the sexual assault allegations came to light.

A number of other universities around the country rescinded Cosby’s degrees at that time, but Temple left their’s in place. Carnegie Mellon University decided to rescind Cosby’s honorary degree from 2007 following the verdict.

The jury deliberated for 14 hours over the span of two days before rendering their verdict.

Cosby faces up to 30 years in prison.

 

[The Bobster]

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/ent...-Credited-After-His-Conviction-481066171.html

Comic Who Called Cosby Rapist Credited After His Conviction
Buress was silent on the subject after Thursday's verdict against Cosby
Published 33 minutes ago | Updated 7 minutes ago

Standup comic Hannibal Buress, whose 2014 remark about sexual-assault accusations against Bill Cosby went viral, is getting another serious surge of attention.

The path to Cosby's conviction on Thursday on charges he drugged and molested a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home arguably started 3 1/2 years earlier in a Philadelphia comedy club, where Buress during his standup act mocked Cosby's smug preachiness and called him a rapist.

"I've done this bit on stage, and people think I'm making it up," Burress said. "Bill Cosby has a lot of rape allegations. ... When you leave here, Google 'Bill Cosby rape.'"

Cellphone video of the moment taken by then-Philadelphia Magazine reporter Dan McQuade went viral, and so did the allegations. Stories that had been public but largely ignored for years suddenly got a footing. New accusers emerged, and old accusers remerged. Lawsuits and criminal prosecution soon followed.

Buress was silent on the subject after Thursday's verdict against Cosby, tweeting out only tour dates, and his representatives didn't respond to requests for a statement. But thousands of people were talking about him on Twitter in posts like these:

— "Think about the impact Hannibal Buress made." — CNBC politics reporter John Harwood.

— "These allegations were made for years and were almost uniformly ignored. Then Hannibal Buress referenced them in a standup comedy routine that went viral, and suddenly it was an avalanche." — Michael David Smith, managing editor of Pro Football Talk.

— "Somebody buy @hannibalburess a drink today. And then again tomorrow. Forever." — TV comedy writer Travon Free.

— "Hannibal Buress changed history." — John Podhoretz, editor of Commentary.

Cosby, who was known for his good-guy image as wisdom-dispensing, sweater-wearing Dr. Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show," repeatedly denied sexually violating a Temple University employee at his mansion in 2004. Cosby, who's 80, could get up to 10 years in prison on each of three counts of aggravated indecent assault but is likely to get less than that under state sentencing guidelines.

Buress has refused to talk about Cosby in interviews, but he addressed what he had started in his 2016 Netflix special.

"That situation got out of hand. Yikes!" Buress said. "I was just doing a joke at a show."

He said most of the media coverage contained a "slight dis" when it called him "unknown comedian Hannibal Buress."

No one calls him that anymore.

 

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2018/04/28/bill-cosby-house-arrest/

Cosby Fitted With Ankle Bracelet, To Be Prisoner Inside Home
April 28, 2018 at 10:02 am

PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) — Two days after his conviction, Bill Cosby has already started life as an inmate — though his surroundings are far nicer than they likely will be in a few months.

Cosby remains free on $1 million bail after a Montgomery County jury found him guilty of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand in 2004.

A judge says Cosby will be confined to the same suburban Philadelphia mansion where jurors concluded he drugged and molested a Temple University women’s basketball administrator, ordering him to be outfitted with a GPS ankle bracelet to monitor compliance.

Until sentencing, Judge Steven O’Neill ruled Friday, the 80-year-old comedian may leave his house only to meet with his lawyers or go to the doctor, and he must get permission first.

It was the latest sign that Cosby’s past — a sordid double life that gave the lie to his carefully cultivated image as America’s Dad — had finally caught up with him.

Cosby was convicted Thursday of three counts of aggravated indecent assault and now faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars. His team blasted the retrial as a “public lynching” and began looking ahead to an appeal.

Andrew Wyatt, Cosby’s Spokesperson, told Eyewitness news in an interview that, “He’s not sad. He’s not walking around with his head bowed. He’s not miserable. He just knows that he did not do these things.”

Cosby’s publicist, Ebonee Benson also took part in the interview saying that their team is working quickly to appeal the guilty verdict.

“The fight hasn’t stopped.” It’s just moving from trial ending to the next phase,” said Benson.

Andrew Wyatt, Cosby’s Spokesperson, told Eyewitness news in an interview that, “He’s not sad. He’s not walking around with his head bowed. He’s not miserable. He just knows that he did not do these things.”

Cosby’s publicist, Ebonee Benson also took part in the interview saying that their team is working quickly to appeal the guilty verdict.

“The fight hasn’t stopped.” It’s just moving from trial ending to the next phase,” said Benson.

Constand, now 45, first went to police in 2005 with her allegation that Cosby had knocked her out with three blue pills he called “your friends” and then penetrated her with his fingers as she lay immobilized, unable to resist or say no. But the district attorney at the time halted a police investigation after just four weeks, declaring the case too weak to be prosecuted.

Many on social media applauded the #MeToo movement as a factor in propelling this case, involving a high profile figure, to the point of conviction. Cosby’s team disagrees.

The current district attorney, Kevin Steele, who made the decision to retry Cosby after last year’s hung jury, said in a statement Friday he hoped the case would “pave the road for future victims to come forward to law enforcement and have their allegation investigated.”

How the jury arrived at its verdict remained a mystery.

 

[The Bobster]

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/bil...constand-lesbian-heres-matters-185127955.html

Bill Cosby's prevailing accuser, Andrea Constand, is a lesbian. Here's why that matters

Andrea Constand, center, after Bill Cosby’s conviction. (Photo: Getty Images)


Although more than 50 women have come forward with their own Bill Cosby sexual assault accounts over the years, the entertainer’s three-count conviction on Thursday came down to just one: that of Andrea Constand, who, the Pennsylvania jury found, had been drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby in his home 14 years ago.

“United we stand,” tweeted Constand not long after the decision was handed down at the Montgomery County Courthouse, along with a photo of herself going in for a celebratory hug.

The pressure on Constand was fierce, as hers was the only criminal case against Cosby; in many of the other women’s cases, the statute of limitations’ time frame had ended. “She is the linchpin of the case,” Lynne M. Abraham, a former Philadelphia district attorney and judge, had said in 2017. “The whole case stands or falls on her. She is it.” Still, Constand remained steadfast in her legal fight.

On Thursday, the day the verdict was read, many observers made a point of highlighting what turned out to be a noteworthy personal fact about Constand in the case: her sexuality.

“Before the national reckoning around sexual harassment and abuse that prompted the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, Andrea Constand … came out publicly in 2015 as a lesbian to challenge her attacker’s assertion that he knew how to read the desires of the women he assaulted,” noted national LGBT publication the Advocate in its story published Thursday about “the lesbian accuser who brought down Bill Cosby.”

The story explained that in 2015, Constand’s attorneys noted, in a motion, “As defendant [Cosby] admits in his deposition, despite his talent for interpreting female reactions to him, he did not realize Plaintiff was gay until the police told him.”

Further, in 2017, the New York Times reported that Constand had told investigators about previous times that Cosby had made sexual advances toward her. “I was kind of embarrassed really,” she’d said, noting that she was gay and that the feelings were not mutual. “I never really thought he would have hit on me. He is much older than my father.”

Echoing recent connections between gayness and activism, as made by Parkland shooting survivors including Emma Gonzalez, some of Constand’s supporters celebrated her sexuality on Thursday — which just happened to be, to their great delight, Lesbian Visibility Day.

Constand, who grew up in Toronto and was a high school basketball star, befriended Cosby through his alma mater, Temple University. That’s where, in 2002, he served on the board of trustees, and where Constand was employed as director of operations for women’s basketball. (On Friday, Temple revoked Cosby’s honorary degree in response to his conviction.) She later changed careers and became a massage therapist — taking part in personal-boundaries trainings that, according to her father (also a massage therapist), triggered her memories of the assault incident with Cosby and led her to question more deeply what had gone on, and then to report it.

Today, after being scrutinized by the press, particularly in Canada, Constand is largely private. Her tweets tend to be quotes from others — particularly the Indian yogi and guru Paramahansa Yogananda and the Bible — though Leonard Cohen got in there recently, as did, on Thursday, the Roman Catholic priest and Czech theologian Jan Hus, with her statement on Twitter that “truth prevails.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2018/04/27/temple-university-rescinds-bill-cosby-honorary-degree/

Temple University Rescinds Bill Cosby’s Honorary Degree Day After Guilty Verdict
April 27, 2018 at 1:41 pm

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Temple University has rescinded Bill Cosby’s honorary degree a day after a jury found him guilty of sexual assault.

A jury convicted the 80-year-old actor and comedian on Thursday on three counts of aggravated indecent assault. Cosby was found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple employee Andrea Constand at his home in 2004.

Temple initially awarded the honorary degree to Cosby in 1991.

“Today the Temple University Board of Trustees has accepted the recommendation of the University to rescind the honorary degree,” the actor’s alma mater said in a statement.

Cosby had been a big part of the university for years. He was on the Board of Trustees from 1982 to 2014 until he was forced to resign when the sexual assault allegations came to light.

A number of other universities around the country rescinded Cosby’s degrees at that time. Carnegie Mellon University decided to rescind Cosby’s 2007 honorary degree following the guilty verdict on Thursday.

Cosby faces up to 30 years in prison.

 

[The Bobster]

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/ent...nd-Bill-Cosbys-Honorary-Degree-481445141.html

Yale University Votes to Rescind Cosby's Honorary Degree
Published at 5:41 AM EDT on May 2, 2018 | Updated 5 hours ago

The Yale University Board of Trustees has voted to rescind Bill Cosby's honorary degree after the comedian was found guilty on sexual assault charges on Thursday.

Cosby was convicted on three counts of aggravated assault related to an encounter with a former Temple University employee, Andrea Constand, in his Cheltenham home in Pennsylvania. He was accused of drugging and molesting Constand in 2004. During the trial, five other women testified to also having been drugged and assaulted by Cosby.

A Yale spokesman released the following statement Tuesday night:

"Today the Yale University board of trustees voted to rescind the honorary degree awarded to William H. Cosby, Jr. in 2003. The decision is based on a court record providing clear and convincing evidence of conduct that violates fundamental standards of decency shared by all members of the Yale community, conduct that was unknown to the board at the time the degree was awarded. The board took this decision following Mr. Cosby’s criminal conviction after he was afforded due process.

"Yale is committed to both the elimination of sexual misconduct and the adherence to due process. We reaffirm that commitment with our action today."

Wesleyan University President Michael Roth has also announced he intends to ask the Board of Trustees to revoke the honorary degree Wesleyan awarded Cosby in 1987. Roth will make his request when the Board of Trustees meets in May.

In June 2016, the University of Connecticut revoked an honorary degree awarded to Cosby in 1996. It was the first time the school had ever rescinded an honorary degree.

The court case has destroyed the legacy of the once influential comedian. He was originally charged in 2015, but the initial trial ended in a mistrial when the jury deadlocked.

Cosby now faces up to 10 years in prison on each count. A sentencing date has not been announced. His attorneys said they plan to appeal the verdict.

 

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2018/05/03/camille-cosby-investigate-steele/

Camille Cosby, Wife Of Bill Cosby, Asks For A Criminal Investigation Of Montgomery County DA Steele And ‘His Cohorts’
May 3, 2018 at 8:07 am

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) — One week after Bill Cosby was found guilty on all counts in his sexual assault retrial, his wife, Camille, is calling for a criminal investigation into Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, and his cohorts. She claims the Constitution was not crafted for the people as “most people” were not part of the framing of the document and further states that “In the case of Bill Cosby, unproven accusations evolved into lynch mobs, who publicly and privately coerced cancellations of Bill Cosby’s scheduled performances; syndications of “The Cosby Show”; rescissions of honorary degrees and a vindictive attempt to close an exhibition of our collection of African American art in the Smithsonian Museum of African Art.”

In a statement released this morning, Mrs. Cosby claims that the media and his accusers labeled her husband as guilty and questions whether the media are now the peoples’ judges and juries.

Mrs. Cosby starts off questioning the Constitution:

“We the people” are the first three words of our nation’s Constitution, but who were those people in 1787? Dr. (((Howard Zinn))), the renowned, honest historian, states in his best selling book, A People’s History of the United States: “The majority of the 55 men who framed the Constitution were men of wealth in land, slaves, manufacturing or shipping.” Clearly, most people were not included in that original draft of the Constitution; no women, Native Americans, poor white men; and, absolutely, no enslaved Africans.” :afro:

And later says: “Once again, an innocent person has been found guilty based on an unthinking, unquestioning, unconstitutional frenzy propagated by the media and allowed to play out in a supposed court of law. This is mob justice, not real justice. This tragedy must be undone not just for Bill Cosby, but for the country.”

The jury deliberated for 14 hours over two days to determine the 80-year-old actor’s fate.

CBS3’s Joe Holden reports that Cosby showed no emotion when the verdict was read. Cosby was found guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault. Each count carries a sentence up to 10 years in prison, as he could now potentially spend his final years behind bars.

He is likely to get less than that under state sentencing guidelines, bust given his age, even a modest term could mean he will die behind bars.

However, when Steele asked to have Cosby’s bail revoked because he has a plane, the actor lashed out at the DA, slamming something down on the desk and uttering an expletive.

“He doesn’t have a plane, you a******,” Cosby yelled at Steele.

After the verdict was read, women who accused Cosby of sexual assault left the courtroom crying and hugging one another.

Outside the courthouse, attorney Gloria Allred thanked the jury for convicting Cosby.

“Justice has been done!” said Allred.

She continued, “We are so happy that finally, we can say women are believed, and not only on ‘Me Too,’ but in a court of law where they were under oath, where they testified truthfully, where they were attacked, where they were smeared, where they were denigrated, where there were attempts to discredit them and after all is said and done, women were finally believed and we thank the jury so much for that.”

Actress Lili Bernard, who accused Cosby of sexually assaulting her, called it a victory for all victims.

“I feel like my faith in humanity is restored,” she said outside the courtroom.

Defense attorney Tom Mesereau said they will appeal the verdict.

“We are very disappointed by the verdict and we don’t think Mr. Cosby is guilty of anything. The fight is not over,” said Mesereau.

Steele said during a Thursday afternoon press conference that Cosby spent decades preying on women and used his celebrity and network of supporters to conceal his crimes.

“Justice was done,” said Steele.

Steele got emotional while thanking Constand for her “courage” and “resilience” to speak up against a “powerful man.” The DA was choking up and holding back tears while speaking to the media.

Steele added he will look to make Cosby pay for the cost of his trials.

“When a sentencing occurs, there’s also an assessment for the cost of prosecution. We expect we will be arguing the cost associated with both the trials, the sequestration, the sheriff’s costs for this, will go to the defendant. I will be relying on defense counsel’s opening remarks when he was talking about $3.38 million being a paltry sum, or simply a nuisance, so clearly the cost of prosecution in this matter should not be a problem for the defendant,” said Steele.

“United we stand,” Constand tweeted following the verdict.

Bruce Castor, the former Montgomery County DA who declined to prosecute Bill Cosby released this statement on the guilty verdict:

“My congratulations to District Attorney Kevin Steele and the entire Montgomery County law enforcement team on their successful prosecution of Bill Cosby. The masterful use of Cosby’s incriminating civil deposition, plus the other witnesses who came forward and testified after unprecedented publicity, proved to be an unbeatable courtroom one-two combination in buttressing the victim. I wish the prosecution all the best going into sentencing and during the appeal process.”

During the first day of deliberations, the jury asked Judge Steven O’Neill the legal meaning of “consent.” The judge told the jurors they had already been given the definitions of the charges. On the second day of deliberations, the jury revisited the testimony of star defense witness Marguerite Jackson who said accuser Andrea Constand once spoke of framing a prominent person to score a big payday.

Cosby did not take the stand in his retrial.

Seven men and five women saw a half-dozen accusers testify that the man once revered as “America’s Dad” had a sordid secret life that involved preying on women for his own sexual gratification. And they have heard from a witness who says his chief accuser talked about framing a high-profile person to score a big payday.

Cosby was charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault — all stemming from Andrea Constand’s allegations that he knocked her out with three pills he called “your friends” and molested her at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in January 2004.

Cosby has said he gave Constand 1½ tablets of the over-the-counter cold and allergy medicine Benadryl to help her relax before what he called a consensual sexual encounter.

The jury in Cosby’s first trial weighed the evidence for more than 52 hours over six days without reaching a verdict.

This time, both sides gave the retrial jury much more to consider.

Prosecutors were able to call five additional accusers who testified that Cosby also drugged and violated them — including one woman who asked him through her tears, “You remember, don’t you, Mr. Cosby?”

Cosby’s new defense team, led by Mesereau, countered with a far more robust effort at stoking doubts about Constand’s credibility and raising questions about whether Cosby’s arrest was even legal.

The defense’s star witness was a former colleague of Constand who says Constand spoke of leveling false sexual assault accusations against a high-profile person for the purpose of filing a civil suit. Constand got a civil settlement of nearly $3.4 million from Cosby.

Both juries also heard from Cosby himself — not on the witness stand, but via an explosive deposition he gave in 2005 and 2006 as part of Constand’s civil suit against him. In it, Cosby acknowledged he gave the sedative quaaludes to women before sex in the 1970s.

Cosby’s lawyers devoted the last two days of their case to travel records they say prove he could not have been at his suburban Philadelphia home in January 2004. They argue that any encounter there with Constand would have happened earlier, outside the statute of limitations.

Cosby’s private jet records and travel itineraries produced by Cosby’s lawyers do not show any flights in or out of the Philadelphia area in January 2004, but they have large gaps — a total of 17 days that month in which Cosby was not traveling, performing or taping TV appearances.

 

[The Bobster]

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/ent.../Bill-Cosby-Hall-of-Fame-Honor-481586491.html

TV Academy Reviewing Bill Cosby's Hall of Fame Honor
Cosby's name had previously been removed a list of Hall of Fame honorees on the academy's website
By Lynn Elber
Published at 12:34 AM EDT on May 3, 2018 | Updated 5 hours ago

The TV academy said it is reviewing Bill Cosby's inclusion in the academy's Hall of Fame following his sexual assault conviction.

Cosby's spokesman didn't immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

Although the academy hasn't decided whether he'll remain in the Hall of Fame, Cosby's name had previously been removed a list of Hall of Fame honorees on the academy's website.

A bust of Cosby no longer will be part of a rotating Walk of Fame exhibit honoring TV heavyweights at the academy's Los Angeles headquarters, an academy spokesman said.

Last week, jurors in Pennsylvania convicted Cosby of drugging and molesting a Temple University employee in 2004. He awaits sentencing.

 

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2018/05/03/marian-anderson-award-board-rescinds-bill-cosbys-honor/

Academy Of Motion Pictures Revokes Bill Cosby’s Membership As Marian Anderson Award Board Also Rescinds Honor
May 3, 2018 at 6:15 pm

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Bill Cosby lost more prestigious honors following his guilty verdict in his sex assault retrial.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars, announced that it is revoking Cosby’s membership.

Earlier on Thursday, the Marian Anderson Award board announced they rescinded Cosby’s award he received in 2010.

“The decision to rescind was made out of respect for the legacy of Marian Anderson, the other artists we have honored and will honor in the future, and the students who benefit from the organization’s Young Artist Study Grant program,” the board said in a statement.

The 80-year-old actor has had several honorary degrees rescinded, including from Temple University and Yale University.

Frontier Airlines Employee Stabbed By Co-Worker Inside Philadelphia International Airport Terminal, Police Say

Cosby was found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple employee Andrea Constand at his home in 2004.

Cosby faces up to 30 years in prison.

 

[The Bobster]

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/20...l-team-refutes-camille-cosby-divorce-reports/

Spokesman: Bill Cosby Fires High-Powered Legal Team, Refutes Camille Cosby Divorce Reports
June 14, 2018 at 5:41 pm

PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) — Bill Cosby has fired his high-powered legal team nearly two months after being found guilty of sexual assault.

The actor is replacing a half-dozen attorneys, including Thomas Mesereau, with Philadelphia attorney Joseph Green, Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt told CBS3.

Wyatt also refuted reports that Camille Cosby is considering a divorce, calling the suggestion “false.”

Cosby was convicted in April on three counts of aggravated indecent assault. Former Temple University employee Andrea Constand said Cosby drugged and molested her inside his home in 2004.

Cosby is confined to his home awaiting sentencing Sept. 24. The comedian, who turns 81 in July, is likely to face a sentence of five to 10 years in prison.

Cosby has maintained his innocence, saying his sexual encounter with lesbian Constand was consensual. His lawyers attacked Constand at the April retrial as a “con artist” who framed Cosby in order to extort a huge civil settlement from him. Constand sued Cosby after prosecutors initially declined to file charges, settling with him for nearly $3.4 million over a decade ago.

 

[The Bobster]

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2...cost-montgomery-county-taxpayers-over-219000/

Bill Cosby’s Sex Assault Retrial Cost Montgomery County Taxpayers Over $219,000
June 28, 2018 at 5:32 pm

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Pa. (CBS/AP) — Officials have released a breakdown of how much Bill Cosby’s sexual assault retrial cost Montgomery County taxpayers. The total bill was just over $219,000.

The cost associated with the jury was more than $139,000.

The remainder was for security.

Cosby was found guilty in April of drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand inside his home in 2004.

Cosby is confined to his home awaiting sentencing Sept. 24. The comedian, who turns 81 in July, is likely to face a sentence of five to 10 years in prison.

Cosby has maintained his innocence , saying his sexual encounter with lesbian Constand was consensual. His lawyers attacked Constand at the April retrial as a “con artist” who framed Cosby in order to extort a huge civil settlement from him. Constand sued Cosby after prosecutors initially declined to file charges, settling with him for nearly $3.4 million over a decade ago.

 

[The Bobster]

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2...y-be-classified-as-sexually-violent-predator/

Pennsylvania Board Recommends Bill Cosby Be Classified As Sexually Violent Predator
July 24, 2018 at 11:43 am

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS/AP) — Bill Cosby should be considered a sexually violent predator, according to a psychologist with the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board.

The Montgomery County District Attorney requested a hearing on the report Tuesday so a judge can decide if Cosby will be classified as a sexually violent predator. No date had been set for the hearing as of early Tuesday.

The 81-year-old was convicted April 26 on sexual assault charges related to accusations he had drugged and assaulted Andrea Constand in 2004.

The report, which looks at 14 different areas to determine the status, is not public. State law requires Cosby to register as a sex offender. The classification would require increased treatment in prison and increased notification of neighbors upon release.

Cosby is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 24.

 

[The Bobster]

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2...-classification-as-sexually-violent-predator/

Cosby Fighting Classification As Sexually Violent Predator
July 30, 2018 at 1:15 pm

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) – Bill Cosby’s lawyers are challenging the legality of the process under which a Pennsylvania board recommended he be classified as a sexually violent predator.

They also claimed in a court filing last week that the state’s recently revised sex offender registry law is unconstitutional and should not be applied retroactively.

The 81-year-old Cosby is due to be sentenced Sept. 24 on three counts of aggravated indecent assault. He was convicted in April of drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia mansion 14 years ago. He plans to appeal.

A judge must decide whether to accept the finding he is a predator.

The designation would require the former TV star to receive sex offender counseling by a state-approved provider at least monthly for the rest of his life.