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Bill Cosby Freed After Appellate Victory

Bill Cosby's criminal conviction for sexual assault justly met its demise in the PA Supreme Court yesterday, not on a technicality, but because the decision to charge and try him was a bait and switch that violated one of the most basic tenets on which our criminal justice system is founded: due process of law. The Court found the violation was so egregious that only a remedy of dismissal with no chance of retrial was appropriate. Cosby was freed from prison immediately.

The 79-page opinion is here. There is some really good language on the awesome (as in huge, not terrific) power of prosecutors and why, when prosecutors make a promise to a defendant that induces him to give up a constitutional right, that promise must be enforced.

There's also a word I rarely see, and the opinion uses it three separate times: Undergird. (It means brace or support (an underpinning) and apparently was first used in the 1500's). [More...]

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Cosby Mistrial: The Right Call

The Judge declared a mistrial in the Bill Cosby trial today. I think it was the right call, given the inconsistencies in the accuser's testimony:

The defense seized on inconsistencies in the version of events Ms. Constand gave when she went to the police the next year, and statements she made later on: She said the assault took place in March 2004, after dinner at a restaurant, then said it occurred earlier, unconnected to the restaurant outing; she said the incident had been the first time she had been alone with Mr. Cosby in his home, then said it was the third time, and that she had rebuffed his sexual advances the first two times; she said she had minimal communication with him after the incident, then acknowledged many contacts.

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Arrest Warrant Issued for Bill Cosby

When the powers that be decide to target you, there's very little that can be done to change their mind. An arrest warrant has been issued for Bill Cosby, for an incident that allegedly took place in 2004. You can read the Complaint here.

I continue to have zero interest in this story, and I doubt I'll write more about it. For those who feel differently, here's a place to discuss it.

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