Bill Cosby to be released from prison, conviction overturned by PA Supreme Court

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

https://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Supreme/out/J-100-2020mo%20-%20104821740139246918.pdf?cb=1

Former DA had agreed not to prosecute him in order to get him to testify in a civil case and later prosecutors used that testimony in his criminal trial. Obviously that’s not something we want to uphold, but still sh**tty that he’s getting to avoid justice like this.

One judge dissented and two partially concurred (presumably about the remedy - I think they wanted Cosby to have a new trial without his testimony from the civil suit included).

[Alben Barkley]

I know one person who is celebrating:

[Gass3268]

DA f'ed up bad here

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

DA f'ed up bad here

Especially since the root of all this seems to be his original decision that he didn’t think a criminal trial against Cosby could work because (among other things) Constand continued talking to Cosby afterwards. That’s rape culture right there.

[GP270watch]

 Very conflicted about this.

 The allegations against Cosby are numerous and in many cases credible and this reputation he had as a sexual predator was known for decades. On the other hand the trial was a farce and probably was only brought about because of the political environment and the shame of prosecutors who did nothing when they had a better oppurtunity to bring cases against him. The American legal system is very procedural, we have come to believe that this is the best way to presume innocence and give a fair trial. This is not a perfect system and has many downsides, you are now seeing this in Cosby's case.

[Joe Republic]

To celebrate, I’ll be getting blacked out drunk on a single cocktail tonight.

[This user has not been convicted of 34 felonies]

Goes to show that you can do pretty much whatever you want if you have lots and lots of money.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Goes to show that you can do pretty much whatever you want if you have lots and lots of money.

This has nothing to do with that (considering he was even convicted in the first place) and is entirely because of prosecutorial misconduct which you would see if you read anything instead of just the headline to make such a canned lazy take.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Goes to show that you can do pretty much whatever you want if you have lots and lots of money.

This has nothing to do with that (considering he was even convicted in the first place) and is entirely because of prosecutorial misconduct which you would see if you read anything instead of just the headline to make such a canned lazy take.

I'm 100% with Red on this.  A prosecutor who commits misconduct is a big danger for society.

[MasterJedi]

He fully admitted to what he did, he's not going to be welcomed in society besides people like Kanye or other rape apologists (sadly way too many of those) but he's still done.

[ProudModerate2]

I did not follow Cosby's case in any great detail.
But knowing what happened today, how did his case even proceed in the first place?
Was this discussed (legally, in court) from the very beginning? How could it have been overlooked and/or ignored from day 1?

[Calthrina950]

He fully admitted to what he did, he's not going to be welcomed in society besides people like Kanye or other rape apologists (sadly way too many of those) but he's still done.

This much is true. Cosby is in poor health, from what I've read, and he probably doesn't have much longer to live. He will go to his grave in disgrace, and will continue to be ostracized by broader society. Moreover, Cosby is apparently still facing civil lawsuits connected to some of the allegations.

Goes to show that you can do pretty much whatever you want if you have lots and lots of money.

To a certain extent, this is true, but Cosby did receive some justice in this case and his reputation has been completely destroyed. He's lost honorary degrees and many of his profits (i.e. royalties from the Cosby Show, revenue from comedy tours, etc.) because of this.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

He fully admitted to what he did, he's not going to be welcomed in society besides people like Kanye or other rape apologists (sadly way too many of those) but he's still done.

He's old even for an old.  He wasn't going to go back to work or Hollywood circles.  He's a rapist.  But the prosecutor f****d this up royally.

[SteveRogers]

DA f'ed up bad here

Yup. This should not have been able to happen.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Bill Cosby is blind and he doesn't need to be imprisoned that's why the Crt threw out the conviction and he has done so much for Afro Americans, I approve of this decision

Now, if he was another Conservative black male, which he is and didn't do anything for Blacks that would be different

[Dereich]

I did not follow Cosby's case in any great detail.
But knowing what happened today, how did his case even proceed in the first place?
Was this discussed (legally, in court) from the very beginning? How could it have been overlooked and/or ignored from day 1?

There was a hearing on the issue in the initial case. Per the opinion, "The trial court considered the interaction between the former district attorney and Cosby to be an incomplete and unauthorized contemplation of transactional immunity.  The trial court found no authority for the proposition that a prosecutor may unilaterally confer transactional immunity through a declaration as the sovereign. Rather, the court noted, such immunity can be conferred only upon strict compliance with Pennsylvania’s immunity statute."

The court eventually concludes that even if the prosecutor's promise of non-prosecution wasn't done properly under the statute that "when a prosecutor makes an unconditional promise of non-prosecution, and when the defendant relies upon that guarantee to the detriment of his constitutional right not to testify, the principle of fundamental fairness that undergirds due process of law in our criminal justice system demands that the promise be enforced."

[emailking]

Are we just assuming it was overturned because of the confession? I can't find anywhere reporting on the reason for this.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Are we just assuming it was overturned because of the confession? I can't find anywhere reporting on the reason for this.

It looks like it was. I skimmed the opinion and they didn’t reach the issue of his past victims’ testimony being valid or not.

[It’s so Joever]

We weren’t harsh enough on him before.

[LabourJersey]

Can the prosecutor be fired for this?

This is pretty crazy level of incompetence, especially for a high-profile case.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Can the prosecutor be fired for this?

This is pretty crazy level of incompetence, especially for a high-profile case.

The prosecutor is Bruce Castor, one of Trump’s impeachment lawyers. He is no longer in office.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Can the prosecutor be fired for this?

This is pretty crazy level of incompetence, especially for a high-profile case.

He's already out of office. Best thing would be to disbar him.

[Dereich]

Can the prosecutor be fired for this?

This is pretty crazy level of incompetence, especially for a high-profile case.

I don't think Castor's decision in 2005 was incompetent. He had a case with potential witness credibility issues, a popular defendant, and a lack of corroborating evidence. That case would be a sure loser and it would be one that his office (and the victim!) would definitively lose in the national spotlight. To proceed with charges without more evidence would have been an absurd waste of judicial resources and would have precluded future prosecution if more evidence was found. The State is under no obligation to proceed on a case if there's no reasonable probability of conviction and it doesn't look like there was one.

His decision to try to get the victim something by helping her civil case was all he could do. And it worked! That decision led to Constand getting, if not justice, at least financial relief and a court judgment against Cosby. If the DA had not done so there's every chance that Cosby wouldn't have produced the favorable evidence that led to both the civil judgment and the later criminal conviction.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

As I said previously, I do believe that Cosby is a sexual predictor, but he has a good heart some of that stuff were blatant lies, only one accuser Victoria said he did that stuff, so was Michael Jackson, a sexual stuff and the jury said he didn't do all that stuff he was accused on from one accuser, but Jackson was a pedifile

[DaleCooper]

I have no doubt that Cosby is guilty, but the fault seems to lie with the prosecution and the DA. I'm still shocked that Cosby was found guilty because I was always uneasy with the idea of a sealed deposition from a civil suit being used as the basis for a criminal trial. Once again, incompetence from the lawyers causes a great miscarriage of justice.