Comedian Bill Cosby Convicted On All Counts

[Judge]

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — 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.

The verdict came after a two-week retrial in which prosecutors put five other women on the stand who testified that Cosby, married for 54 years, drugged and violated them, too. One of those women asked him through her tears, “You remember, don’t you, Mr. Cosby?”

The panel of seven men and five women reached a verdict after deliberating 14 hours over two days, vindicating prosecutors’ decision to retry Cosby after his first trial ended with a hung jury less than a year ago.

Bill Cosby convicted of drugging and molesting a woman

 

[SunnyDay16]

I had a feeling he was guilty. With that many accusers, it's a no-brainer.

 

[Tom]

Good

 

[Gritches]

Oh snap

 

[Judge]

I had a feeling he was guilty. With that many accusers, it's a no-brainer.

Some 60 women with such accusations over fifty years. Seemed pretty compelling to me as well. Something well beyond the scope and cliche of publicity seekers attempting to victimize a celebrity.

Though Cosby's defense lawyer has vowed to appeal the verdict given the judge's admittance of testimony from five other accusers. In the meantime Cosby is out on bail ($1,000,000) pending sentencing.

At his age and long term lifestyle, even moderate sentencing for each charge seems to reflect the probability of Cosby dying behind bars.

 

[Juliettaa]

Good

Ditto

 

[WereBear]

I am glad some form of justice is finally being served.

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

Sick and twisted.

(No further comment. Too soon)

 

[tducey]

No excuse for his behavior at all. That many accusers you knew he was guilty. He's 81 in July so it's likely he dies behind bars.

 

[Joel's Hear]

He seems like one of the comedians who everybody said was funny but was really psychotically angry and self consumed. I guess Hollywood made him that way though.

 

[LucyPurrs]

Is there anyone who is not corrupted by power?

 

[George Newman]

Is there anyone who is not corrupted by power?

I tend to think not. Most are corrupted by power. Many of the most uncorrupted people I know or remember have not had significant power as defined by what we recognize as power. We may want to work to redefine what real power and success is. Thoughts?

 

[FreeDiver]

Is there anyone who is not corrupted by power?

God himself?

 

[Full Steam]

Is there anyone who is not corrupted by power?

Yes, most people are not.

I understand why people think like that, but it's a myth, and a destructive one at that.

For that to be correct, you would have to think that power would corrupt you if you got it and I'm sure it wouldn't. Would it corrupt most of the people you know and love? Most the people I know would not be so corrupted.

I believe the problem is that broken personalities are often attention seeking and driven to get fame, power and money. If they are successful they then have a vehicle to amplify their preexisting issues.

People who desire power often want it at a person to person level as well, and what better way than to dehumanise people as Cosby did.

The press report gleefully on successful people's issues, and never when Mr X continued living a good life despite fame and power. It skews the balance of good vs bad in our mind and makes us believe there is more bad than good, when in fact it's the other way around.

Some people who back up my argument (there are tons more);

Elon Musk
Bill Gates
Mark Zuckerberg
George Cluney

A healthy personality will use fame, power and money to help other people - the top of Maslow's hierarchy.

Broken personalities will use it to shore up holes in theirs.


What people like Cosby, and Saville and that film producer (forgot his name) do is not just an assault on people, they assault our society as a whole, and our memories and it's right that we despise them above all others. They deliberately abuse our trust so that they can abuse the vulnerable.

It's good that their legacies are now ash, and everything they have built will be lost.

 

[Judge]

Frankly I grew up hearing most of his monologues and loving them. Harmless and funny, often contrasting to more caustic, yet equally funny personalities like George Carlin and Richard Pryor.

Makes me very sad to discover the difference between the man on stage talking about his life while growing up, versus the malevolent adult he came to be behind closed doors that he attempted to suppress in the public eye for so many decades. 60 women over 50 years? His ability to spin this simply ran out of steam, despite having the best legal defense money can buy.

 

[LucyPurrs]

Yes, most people are not.

I understand why people think like that, but it's a myth, and a destructive one at that.

For that to be correct, you would have to think that power would corrupt you if you got it and I'm sure it wouldn't. Would it corrupt most of the people you know and love? Most the people I know would not be so corrupted.

I believe the problem is that broken personalities are often attention seeking and driven to get fame, power and money. If they are successful they then have a vehicle to amplify their preexisting issues.

People who desire power often want it at a person to person level as well, and what better way than to dehumanise people as Cosby did.

The press report gleefully on successful people's issues, and never when Mr X continued living a good life despite fame and power. It skews the balance of good vs bad in our mind and makes us believe there is more bad than good, when in fact it's the other way around.

Some people who back up my argument (there are tons more);

Elon Musk
Bill Gates
Mark Zuckerberg
George Cluney

A healthy personality will use fame, power and money to help other people - the top of Maslow's hierarchy.

Broken personalities will use it to shore up holes in theirs.


What people like Cosby, and Saville and that film producer (forgot his name) do is not just an assault on people, they assault our society as a whole, and our memories and it's right that we despise them above all others. They deliberately abuse our trust so that they can abuse the vulnerable.

It's good that their legacies are now ash, and everything they have built will be lost.

Thank you Full Steam for a hopeful response and one that is cogent and thoughtful as well. I will hold on to this if I start to get cynical and discouraged by what goes on around us.

 

[Rayner]

Yes, Jesus Christ. Now other than that guy, yeah no probably not.

Is there anyone who is not corrupted by power?

 

[Judge]

Is there anyone who is not corrupted by power?

It doesn't help to live in a society where there's a perception that wealth can potentially buy justice. And that conversely poverty can condemn those whether actually guilty or innocent.

Though on occasion karma can make the lives of wealthy celebrities a lot less richer than what their balance sheet may indicate.

 

[SunnyDay16]

Yes, most people are not.

I understand why people think like that, but it's a myth, and a destructive one at that.

For that to be correct, you would have to think that power would corrupt you if you got it and I'm sure it wouldn't. Would it corrupt most of the people you know and love? Most the people I know would not be so corrupted.

I believe the problem is that broken personalities are often attention seeking and driven to get fame, power and money. If they are successful they then have a vehicle to amplify their preexisting issues.

People who desire power often want it at a person to person level as well, and what better way than to dehumanise people as Cosby did.

The press report gleefully on successful people's issues, and never when Mr X continued living a good life despite fame and power. It skews the balance of good vs bad in our mind and makes us believe there is more bad than good, when in fact it's the other way around.

Some people who back up my argument (there are tons more);

Elon Musk
Bill Gates
Mark Zuckerberg
George Cluney

A healthy personality will use fame, power and money to help other people - the top of Maslow's hierarchy.

Broken personalities will use it to shore up holes in theirs.


What people like Cosby, and Saville and that film producer (forgot his name) do is not just an assault on people, they assault our society as a whole, and our memories and it's right that we despise them above all others. They deliberately abuse our trust so that they can abuse the vulnerable.

It's good that their legacies are now ash, and everything they have built will be lost.

Harvey Weinstein I think is the movie producer you're referring to?

 

[Judge]

Harvey Weinstein I think is the movie producer you're referring to?

Prosecutors on both coasts building multiple cases against him. Makes me wonder if he'll eventually become a flight risk before he's formally charged? I think if he goes to court he'll be put away for a long time.

Even with another "dream team" defense. Looks like he has around half the net worth of Bill Cosby. Like O.J. Simpson, such a legal defense may bankrupt him. Especially if there's a line of litigators waiting for him apart from criminal prosecutions.