Bill Cosby lashes out in court after being found guilty in sexual assault retrial

The Chicago Tribune ^ | 04/26/18 | Michael R. Sisak and Claudia Lauer

[Simon Green]

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 assaulted 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 after the prosecutor demanded the former TV star be sent immediately to jail. Steele told the judge Cosby has a plane and might flee.

"He doesn't have a plane, you a--hole!" Cosby shouted at Steele. "I'm sick of him!"

The judge decided Cosby can remain free on $1 million bail while he awaits sentencing, but restricted him to Montgomery County, where his home is. No sentencing date was set.

Cosby waved to the crowd outside the courthouse, got into an SUV and left without comment. His lawyer Tom Mesereau declared "the fight is not over" and said he will appeal.

Shrieks erupted in the courtroom when the verdict was announced, and some of his accusers whimpered and cried. Constand remained stoic, then hugged her lawyer and members of the prosecution team.

"Justice has been done!" celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who represented some of Cosby's accusers, said on the courthouse steps. "We are so happy that finally we can say women are believed."

[DoughtyOne]

I’d say he’s all lashed up!

[Dilbert San Diego]

Does Gloria Allred believe Bill Clinton’s accusers? If she wants women to be heard, she has many women she can talk to about Clinton.

[laplata]

There goes any leniency in sentencing. He’ll probably die in prison.

[Skywise]

Because justice was done with “those” women...

[PGR88]

I don’t trust anything Gloria Allred is involved with.

[FreeReign]

He doesn't have a plane, you a--hole!" Cosby shouted at Steele. "I'm sick of him!

[Skywise]

So you claim that’s his plane and not a charter service?

[elcid1970]

Jello pudding cups, anyone?

[WashingtonFire]

Cosby is not a good man, but his card was marked the minute he criticised the Marxist elite.

,

[iowamark]

Later in his career, he attracted controversy for lecturing about social dysfunction in poor black neighborhoods, railing against young people stealing things and wearing baggy pants.

It was Cosby's reputation as a public moralist that prompted a federal judge, acting in response to a request from The Associated Press, to unseal portions of the deposition.

Cosby was forced to testify in the civil suit, then later prosecuted using his forced statements. He has serious grounds for appeal.

[FreeReign]

So you claim that’s his plane and not a charter service?

I didn't make any claim. The article where the image came from, did refer to the plane in the picture as "his private jet".

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

If I was him at 80yrs old, I’d get the hell out of dodge.

[pepsi_junkie]

I'm torn. I think Cosby is a scumbag who did it and deserves whatever punishment he gets. but the road the prosecution took to get it was sketchy at best. They chose to take testimony Cosby gave in a civil case under an immunity agreement (and hence he could be compelled to testify since he could not argue self-incrimination peril) and then flipped it for a criminal prosecution. Basically they did an end-around to sidestep the 5th amendment and railroaded Cosby into testifying against himself. From a civil liberties perspective that's corrupt and wrong.

Certainly Cosby is not a good poster child for prosecutorial misconduct, given that he's almost certainly guilty of multiple heinous crimes over many years. But still, when prosecutors play such games it's worrisome.

[SgtBob]

The aircraft is owned by MG Flight Group LLC, St. Augustine, FL.

[GOPJ]

Cosby is not a good man, but his card was marked the minute he criticized the Marxist elite.

Ding, ding, ding... we have a twofer thread winnah...

[Responsibility2nd]

Cosby is totally blind. Has other major health problems as well.

He’ll get a suspended sentence.

[SecondAmendment]

Riots start in 3 ..., 2 ..., 1...

[SgtBob]

What artical was that? They might want to school up their reporters. That aircraft is a single engine turboprop...not a jet.

[frank ballenger]

I saw the photos of 53 women on the leftist New York Magazine and looked over some of their stories. It was truly upsetting.
I realize the MeToo women are sometimes setup phonies who want revenge after a man fell for another woman or spurned this woman’s flirtations in the office and so on. True. Others are actual victims with liberals ignoring their plight for years and years (did someone say Bill Clinton?).

But Cosby was an entitled bully who deliberately sought out trusting, naïve women to drug and trick and rape—and then set out to suppress their stories and blacken their names if they dared to fight the big shot.

He deserves a special place in Hell. I’m so glad he got convicted on ONE of his many crimes.