Serial rapist and sexual predator Bill Cosby was found guilty today. From the New York Times:
A jury found Bill Cosby guilty Thursday of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home near here 14 years ago, capping the downfall of one of the world’s best-known entertainers, and offering a measure of satisfaction to the dozens of women who for years have accused him of similar assaults against them.
On the second day of its deliberations at the Montgomery County Courthouse in this town northwest of Philadelphia, the jury returned to convict Mr. Cosby of three counts of aggravated indecent assault against Andrea Constand, at the time a Temple University employee he had mentored.
The three counts — penetration with lack of consent, penetration while unconscious and penetration after administering an intoxicant — are felonies, each punishable by up to 10 years in state prison, though the sentences could be served concurrently.
Observations:
1 Good. Cosby should be serving hard time for rape. This verdict won’t accomplish that, and he has the resources to keep the matter tied up in appeals, maybe even forcing a new trial. Never mind: the verdict itself is satisfying punishment for a true ethics villain.
2. The verdict overcame the Cognitive Dissonance Scale, and that’s no mean feat. The jury deserves a lot of credit. Here, for the umpteenth time, is the scale:
Celebrities—or the characters they are identified with— are typically so high on the scale ( think of Bill/Cliff Huxtable as a plus 100) that even the evidence of a crime can’t pull them down sufficiently for jurors to be able to resolve the dissonance when they are thinking, “But he’s a great man and a wonderful person! How could he do these things?” The dissonance creates automatic reasonable doubt, all by itself, at least with enough jurors to ensure a mistrial, as in Cosby’s first trial. Hence O.J. Errol Flynn was acquitted of statutory rape. Robert Blake (“Baretta”) was acquitted of murdering his wife. Bill Cosby figured to have an unusually strong celebrity shield, but several factors overcame it:
- the amount of evidence against him.
- the fact that what he did represented such a betrayal of his public image
- the judge allowing, in the re-trial, other victims to testify
- the series of previously admired show business figures who have been exposed as predators and sexual abusers since the Harvey Weinstein Ethics Train Wreck pulled out of the station, and
- the fact that Cosby peak celebrity was decades ago.
If the trial had occurred at the time of “The Cosby Show,” I wonder if any evidence could have convinced a jury to convict him.
3. The media narrative is that this was all made possible by the #MeToo movement. The claim is like the performers of a rain dance taking credit for a rain storm when it was already cloudy. I first wrote about Cosby’s reputation for drugging and molesting women in 2007, and the scandal that led to the Norristown, Pennsylvania court-house erupted in 2014.
4. Gloria Allred, who represented many of Cosby’s victims, gave a long, long self-congratulating spiel to cameras, reporters and a crowd after the trial. Gloating is crass and unprofessional, and her conduct, not for the first time, debases the law.
5. I heard commentators claim that it will be easier to get convictions for rape now, because women will be believed over the accused. That’s wishful thinking by feminists, and not something to be wished for. Accusers and the accused should always be on exactly even footing before a trail begins, and facts, not movements, should determine guilt or innocence.
6. The prosecution was lucky. It selected some women to testify who could have sunk its case, especially Janice Dickerson, the reality star.
7. In the “Stop making me defend Bill Cosby” department: Following the verdict, District Attorney Kevin Steele called for Cosby’s bail to be revoked, arguing that he would be a flight risk because he had access to a private plane. Cosby shouted out, “He doesn’t have a plane you asshole!” The New York Daily News headlined this, “Bill Cosby curses at district attorney after years of shaming others for their language.,” and it wasn’t the only publication to see some kind of hypocrisy in this incident. I think we can cut the Cos a little slack for this, if little else. I don’t think he ever presumed to give civility guidance to those just convicted of three felonies,
Ethics Alarms 
Was there any evidence he used drugs other than the accusation? I saw there was an interview where he said he was aware the drugs existed, but to be charged with it would be quite difficult…wouldn’t it?
Pretty sure there was. Cosby had admitted to buying quaaludes and giving them to women.
Yep. There was depo testimony where Cosby admitted to this.
Too bad he didn’t get some hard time. I suppose he will be doing community service events for the benefit of rape victims. Merely a slap on the wrist. But then again, he’s a celebrity.
That’s um…
Okay let’s start here. During the trial he had bail.
The trial is now over but no one knows what his sentence will be yet. So it’s premature to complain about him not getting “hard time,” he might. He deserves it.
After someone is found guilty, what happens is someone like a probation officer or an official in the prisons bureau, a social worker, it all depends on the jurisdiction, but basically someone who evaluates criminals, puts together a report with observations and recommendations. That goes to the judge.
The defense and prosecutors also make recommendations, you can guess what those will look like.
In a couple months the judge, having gotten the recommendations, considered and mandatory minimum and statutory maximum sentences, decides what’s going to happen to him.
This judge decided that Cosby could stay out on bail until that happens. The bail has conditions, in Cosby’s case he’s not allowed to leave the county.
It’s possible for him to remain on bail for a short time after the sentencing as well. Given a day to report to prison, and a chance to put his affairs in order. That’s all up to the judge.
He hasn’t received a slap on the wrist. The process simply hasn’t played out yet. Everything that involves courts and judges takes about 10 times longer than you think it does. The wheels of justice turn slowly.
You got THAT right!
Got what right? I said, like, 8 things. The grammar’s not right, and I think I said day when I meant date, they need software that stops me, during non-November months, from typing when I have insomnia.
Your entire post was on the money, Valky. You just stated the facts.
The line, as traditional parlance dictates, refers specifically to the last line, but of course all of it is correct.
My understanding that that Cosby has an automatic appeal, given the heavy hand the judge placed on these proceedings.
That is a shame: he deserves jail time. But it is entirely possible without the judge leaning so hard he never would have been convicted.
Which is why Cosby has the basis for an appeal.
Tom Mesereaux was also reported to have fallen asleep for half an hour of the judge’s reading the jury its instructions. I’m sure he and Cos have been staging an “incompetent counsel” appeal from the first day of the trial. They must have known very well they had a stinker of a case.
Jack would certainly point to Meserreaux’s haircut as supporting evidence.
Did Cosby slip him a Quaalude?
You owe me a keyboard!
Hah! Actually, I was assuming he was just acting completely inept on purpose. “Your honor, the appellant’s counsel was not metaphorically but literally asleep during the proceedings!”
In other news…I saw that apparently, it’s now official: no more Yawkey Way. I reckon Jack might re-visit that PC tempest-in-a-fetal-TRex. But maybe not.
AS you saw, I did.
Thank you Jack – as always, great post!
Cosby is a sleaze who’s earned his own demise; put him away to mix with the general prison population.
Nothing more here than he said she said………………The Jury was negligent beyond belief
THAT’S a ridiculous position. There was an established pattern, and evidence of it. Plenty to find guilt.
It is a ridiculous position. More like he said, she said, she said, she said, she said, she said. In a complete vacuum, it would be a tough case, which is why the first jury deadlocked. But once you bring in the other ladies, it’s easy to find guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Did they all testify to the same act?
Chuckle worthy.