Pennsylvania judges skeptical of Cosby effort to reverse sex assault conviction

HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - A trio of Pennsylvania judges on Monday appeared deeply skeptical of Bill Cosby’s effort to have his sexual assault conviction overturned, as the comedian’s lawyers argued in court that the trial judge had deprived him of a fair trial.

The judicial panel in Superior Court in Harrisburg, the state capital, posed their toughest questions to Cosby’s lawyers during a hearing that lasted less than an hour while state prosecutors seemed to receive a much warmer reception.

Cosby, known for his role as the lovable father in the 1980s television series “The Cosby Show,” saw his family-friendly reputation shattered after dozens of women accused him of sexual assault over decades.

He became the first celebrity to be convicted in the “#MeToo” era when a jury found him guilty in April 2018 of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in 2004.

The 82-year-old, who is serving a prison sentence of three-to-10 years, did not attend Monday’s hearing.

The appeal focused on the decision by Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill to allow five accusers to testify at trial that Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted them years previously, just as Constand claimed he had done.

The trial concerned only Constand’s allegation; the other accusers’ claims were too old to lead to criminal charges.

Under Pennsylvania law, such “prior bad acts” witnesses are seen as potentially prejudicial and can be admitted only under rare exceptions, such as to prove a defendant engaged in a specific pattern of behavior or could not have mistaken incapacitation for consent.

Cosby’s lawyers argued that the women’s stories were too dissimilar to be permitted as pattern evidence and essentially guaranteed the jury would view him as guilty.

But Judge John Bender, the presiding judge on the panel, expressed doubt about that assertion.

“He gives them drugs and then he has sex with them,” the judge said. “That’s the pattern, isn’t it?”

Cosby’s lawyers also said O’Neill wrongly dismissed testimony from a former Montgomery County district attorney, Bruce Castor, who said he had promised Cosby not to bring charges related to Constand if Cosby agreed to testify in a deposition as part of her civil lawsuit against him.

Cosby settled the civil case for millions of dollars. Nearly a decade later, the unsealing of his sworn deposition - in which he acknowledged giving young women sedatives in the 1970s to facilitate sex - prompted a new district attorney to reopen the case and eventually charge Cosby.

Judge Carolyn Nichols, a member of Monday’s panel, said that absent a written agreement or a court-approved deal granting Cosby immunity, Castor’s successors were within their rights to prosecute Cosby.

“How can an elected district attorney bind that office in perpetuity?” she asked.

Cosby’s first trial in June 2017 ended in a mistrial after the jury could not agree on a verdict. At that trial, O’Neill permitted only a single other accuser to testify.

Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Bill Cosby sentenced for up to 10 years in prison for sexual assault

NORRISTOWN, Pa. - Bill Cosby was sentenced to between three and 10 years in prison on Tuesday for sexually assaulting a woman, capping the once-beloved comedian's downfall from "America's Dad" to convicted felon.

Cosby, 81, was found guilty in April of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for the drugging and sexual assault of his one-time friend Andrea Constand, a former Temple University administrator, at his Philadelphia home in 2004.

He was the first celebrity to be convicted for sexual abuse since the start of the #MeToo movement, the national reckoning with misconduct that has brought down dozens of powerful men in entertainment, politics and other fields.

His lawyers have already vowed to appeal the conviction.

Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Steven O'Neill also decided to designate Cosby a "sexually violent predator" under Pennsylvania law.

Under that designation, Cosby will have to undergo monthly counseling and register as a sex offender with police for the rest of his life. Neighbors and schools will be notified of his address and crimes.

More than 50 other women also have accused Cosby of sexual abuse going back decades, with most complaints too old to prosecute. The Constand case was the only allegation that led to criminal charges.

On the first day of the sentencing hearing on Monday, Constand said in a written statement submitted to the court that the attack had turned her into a woman who was "stuck in a holding pattern for most of her adult life, unable to heal fully or to move forward."

"Bill Cosby took my beautiful, healthy young spirit and crushed it," she wrote.

Prosecutors had asked for the maximum prison sentence of between five and 10 years, citing the nature of Cosby's crime as well as his alleged history of misconduct. They had also asked the judge to levy a $25,000 fine on Cosby and make him pay court costs. If ever he came up for parole, prosecutors wanted him to submit to a "psycho-sexual evaluation" that he had refused prior to sentencing.

Citing Cosby's frailty and blindness, Cosby's lawyers had asked for house arrest rather than prison time.

Cosby's first trial in 2017 ended in a mistrial when jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict. Soon after that proceeding, a series of women began leveling sexual misconduct allegations against influential men, launching the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements that have encouraged victims to speak up about their experiences.

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Model Janice Dickinson tells jury that Cosby drugged, raped her

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (Reuters) - Former supermodel Janice Dickinson testified on Thursday that Bill Cosby drugged and raped her at a Lake Tahoe home in 1982, a story similar to those of other alleged victims called as witnesses in the comedian’s sexual assault retrial.

“I wanted to hit him, wanted to punch him in the face,” said Dickinson, a highly successful model in the 1970s and 1980s. “I felt anger, was humiliated, disgusted, ashamed.”

Cosby, who played the loveable patriarch and “America’s Dad” on “The Cosby Show,” is on trial in Pennsylvania for a second time on accusations of drugging and sexually assaulting former friend and colleague Andrea Constand, 45, in 2004.


In all some 50 women have accused Cosby of molestation going back decades. All but Constand’s case were too old to be prosecuted, and Cosby’s first trial ended in a mistrial last June due to a deadlocked jury.

Cosby is accused of giving pills to college administrator Constand and assaulting her at his home near Philadelphia.

Cosby has denied the charge of aggravated indecent assault of Constand, saying any sexual contact was consensual. His lawyers have portrayed Constand as a gold-digging con artist.

Dickinson is the fourth of five accusers permitted by Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill to tell their stories to the jury in the suburban Philadelphia courtroom.

Describing a scenario similar to three previous accusers, Dickinson said Cosby contacted her and offered career help.

He flew her to Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where she met Cosby and his musical director for dinner and complained of menstrual cramps. “I have something for that,” Cosby said, according to her testimony.

She testified that he gave her a little blue pill, which she swallowed. Cosby then took her back to his room, where Dickinson, 27 at the time, shot several pictures of him with her Polaroid camera that were projected in court.

“I was really light-headed,” she said. “When I spoke, it didn’t sound like words were coming out. We weren’t discussing my career. He was on the phone.”

She testified that when he finished his call, he climbed on top of her.

“I remember his breath, the taste of his kiss, cigars and espresso. Here was ‘America’s Dad’ on top of me, a happily married man with five kids, and how very, very wrong it was,” Dickinson said.

She found semen between her legs the next day, she said. Confronting Cosby later that day, she demanded to know why he did it. His response was silence and a facial expression that conveyed, “You’re crazy,” she testified.

Dickinson said she did not report the assault to police out of fear it would destroy her career. She said she had long struggled to make it as a model and finally had premiere clients such as cosmetics titan Revlon Inc “who would not have appreciated it if I had been raped and gone to the police.”

Defense lawyer Thomas Mesereau began his cross-examination by focusing on a book ostensibly authored by Dickinson but actually ghost-written by Pablo Fenjves, who also penned O.J. Simpson’s book, “If I Did It.”

Dickinson said she wanted the book’s sections about her rape to be complete and honest and gave that information to Fenjves but its use was overruled by publisher Judith Regan.

Reporting by David DeKok; writing by Daniel Trotta and Barbara Goldberg; editing by Cynthia Osterman and G Crosse

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Fall of an icon? Cosby claims keep coming

TV legend Bill Cosby has denounced the sexual assault allegations against him as "innuendo," but the claims keep coming, and more shows are being canceled, amid talk of the fall of an icon.

"He's trying to go on with the show, but the damage may be irrevocable," said celebrity bible People magazine, in a cover story Monday on the 77-year-old long known as the nation's favorite dad.

"It is not like he will never work again. But this has seriously compromised his future in entertainment," Robert Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University in New York, told AFP.

People noted that Cosby survived a civil lawsuit brought by 13 women in 2005, but now claims by those alleged victims have been joined by fresh allegations from other women.

"The accusations keep coming, one disturbingly similar allegation after another," said the magazine under the strapline "The Fall of Bill Cosby."

A pattern has emerged to the claims, Since the first accuser Andrea Constand in 2004, they have involved the alleged victim being drugged and then forced into having sex with Cosby.

Although he has not been charged with a crime, some 20 women have now made on-the-record claims of sexual assault dating back to the 1960s, including when Cosby was at the height of his fame.

They were joined Monday by a male former studio employee who claimed he arranged payments for eight women when Cosby was working on landmark TV series "The Cosby Show."

Frank Scotti, 90, a facilities manager for the New York studio where the show was filmed, said he organized payments of up to $2,000 at a time for the women, which ran from 1984 to 1992.

'Everybody fooled' by Cosby

"He had everybody fooled," Scotti told the New York Daily News, adding that Cosby had him put his own name on the money orders. "Nobody suspected... He was covering himself by having my name on it.

Cosby's lawyer, well-known Hollywood attorney Marty Singer, dismissed the new claim.

"How would Scotti know if a woman was a model or a secretary? It appears that his story is pure speculation so that he can get his 15 minutes of fame," he told the newspaper.

Cosby himself, who has declined for weeks to comment on the allegations, broke his silence over the weekend.

"I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn't have to answer to innuendos," Cosby told Florida Today. "People should fact check. People shouldn't have to go through that and shouldn't answer to innuendos."

Cosby was greeted with a standing ovation at a show Friday in Florida, local media reported.

But his next show in Las Vegas next weekend has been called off, while there are reports of cancellations in Arizona, New Jersey, and Washington state.

"Canceled" announced a red banner slapped across Cosby's face on the website of the Capitol Theater in Yakima, Washington, where the comic was due to perform on November 29.

Last week US network NBC pulled the plug on a new Cosby sitcom, a day after streaming video service Netflix canceled a planned special, piling pressure on the veteran comic.

The storm engulfing Cosby erupted last month, when comedian Hannibal Buress branded him a "rapist" during a stand-up show in Philadelphia, in a clip that went viral on social media.

On Friday, Cosby's lawyer said the abuse claims have "escalated far past the point of absurdity," adding: "It is long past time for this media vilification of Mr. Cosby to stop."

Steve Barrett, editor-in-chief of public relations industry journal PR Week, told AFP that Cosby is making a mistake by not talking.

"Adopting a policy of silence is making him seem guilty in the eyes of public opinion," he told AFP.

"While this one-way communication continues it is difficult to see how his reputation and legacy can remain intact."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Sold-out Cosby show goes ahead amid sex assault claims

MELBOURNE, Fla./LOS ANGELES - Bill Cosby played a sold-out comedy show on Friday in Florida despite a wave of sexual assault allegations this week that prompted the cancellation of several upcoming shows and two major studios to halt projects involving the comedian.

Cosby, 77, took the stage to a standing ovation and gave the audience a thumbs up at the King Center in Melbourne. The 90-minute show concluded without incident.

Police patrolled the venue ahead of the show, while a handful of protesters joined some attendees outside the center.

"I don't want it reported that nobody cared, said Julie LeMaitre, 47, who carried a sign that said, "Rape is no joke."

Although the show was sold out, there were patches of empty seats, including eight in the center of the orchestra section.

The show went ahead despite the cancellation of Cosby's Las Vegas performance next week and four other shows in Arizona, Illinois, South Carolina and Washington state next year. With NBC and Netflix also dropping projects with the comedian this week, the allegations have threatened Cosby's wholesome public image and future viability in show business.

Still, many ticketholders said they had no qualms about attending the comedian's performance.

"It's his personal life, and I don't really care," said Melbourne resident Russ McDonald, 62, a retired teacher.

Cosby has more than 30 performances, including a Nov. 29 show in Yakima, Washington, scheduled through May. He performed without incident on Thursday in the Bahamas.

He has refused to address questions about the allegations as more women have come forward, saying he forced himself sexually upon them, some accusing him of drugging them before.

The comedian has never been charged and his lawyers have said the assault claims were "discredited" and "defamatory."

Cosby's publicist did not respond to a message on Friday seeking comment.

The allegations against Cosby have jolted generations of Americans who knew him as an actor who broke race barriers on TV over the last 50 years, most notably as the admired father Dr. Cliff Huxtable on NBC comedy "The Cosby Show."

This week, Therese Serignese, a Florida woman, said Cosby assaulted her in 1976. Model Janice Dickinson, the most high-profile accuser, also told the "Entertainment Tonight" TV program that she believes Cosby sexually assaulted her in 1982.

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