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WaPo: ‘This ain’t right,’ Bill Cosby defense attorney says in Cosby Case.

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Ninja Scooter

Member
There's something ironic about the man who spent the last 20-30 years chastising young people specifically in black communities for how awful they were possibly spending the last few years of his life in prison.

Like go back to 1991 and tell someone that in the future Bill Cosby and OJ Simpson would be in prison and Donald Trump would be President.
 
M

Mammoth Jones

Member
Ninja Scooter said:
There's something ironic about the man who spent the last 20-30 years chastising young people specifically in black communities for how awful they were possibly spending the last few years of his life in prison.

Like go back to 1991 and tell someone that in the future Bill Cosby and OJ Simpson would be in prison and Donald Trump would be President.
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Yup. Dude spent an inordinate amount of time telling me to pull my pants up.

I kinda wanna tell him "Yea, I blast gangsta rap, say the next word and my shit sags on occasion but I ain't a rapist, Bill..."
 
J

jay

Member
borghe said:
Dismissive my ass. Both are horrible, life altering traumas. End of story.

Also you can't believe there's a defense force for innocent men (which Cosby is absolutely and self admittedly not), being convicted, imprisoned and registered as sex offenders?
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A lawyer can make the point of how bad being wrongfully accused is without declaring it being worse than being a victim of said crime. Your defense of this tactic is frankly kind of odd.
 
T

TCRS

Banned
Is the evidence against Cosby so strong or why are so many people here condemning him even though a decision hasn't been made yet?
 
B

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
jay said:
A lawyer can make the point of how bad being wrongfully accused is without declaring it being worse than being a victim of said crime.
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of course, and he should have.

Your defense of this tactic is frankly kind of odd.
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I wasn't defending his tone deaf remark.. I was pointing out that

The defense also had this beautiful statement from the other day which amounts to "the only thing worse than ruining a woman's life is ruining a man's life":
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was not even close to what the lawyer's quote stated.
 
T

TunaMarshmallow

Member
Morrigan Stark said:
.......What the fuck is wrong with you?

Considering that REAL RAPISTS get away with it constantly, even when convicted they get a slap on the wirst, so the argument that a man's life is "ruined" at an accusation is pretty horseshit.

And moreover, saying that it's worse than the life-long trauma of actually being raped? Are you fucking kidding me?
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Setting aside the legal context (i.e., a defense attorney trying to exonerate his client), obviously this is a horribly tone-deaf and stupid thing to say. And it's almost always insulting and unnecessary to compare forms or instances of horrific abuse.

But the attorney's claim (FWIW) is that it would be, for example, worse to spend decades imprisoned for a crime one didn't commit than to spend decades suffering the trauma of sexual assault. As I just said, outside of the legal context of a lawyer defending her or his client, I don't like or see any reason to make these kinds of comparisons. And one might reasonably disagree and believe the contrary about the comparison. But the lawyer's making a different point than the one you're taking away from his comment.
 
Agent_Carnage

Agent_Carnage

Member
With that many Women coming forward and saying they were raped by Bill its probably 100% that he did do that. It would be a travesty if he walked.
 
Hari Seldon

Hari Seldon

Member
Agent_Carnage said:
With that many Women coming forward and saying they were raped by Bill its probably 100% that he did do that. It would be a travesty if he walked.
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The problem is, the trial doesn't have 30-60 women accusing him. The jurors can only convict on the evidence presented in the trial. So while we are all free to call him a rapist, the jurors are not.
 
Z

Zaphrynn

Member
TangoAlphaLima said:
He's totally gonna get away with this.

Just when you thought the darkest timeline couldn't get any worse...
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While I have a feeling he will get away with it thanks to statute of limitations, I'm at least happy that the man who ruined the lives of 60+ women has been publicly outed and shamed. It's more than most women (and men) get. Even outside of jail, the man is essentially going to be in a social prison.
 
DOWN

DOWN

Banned
They aren't even disputing the actual facts of the night of the rape. They just keep trying to say 'well they knew each other and Bill is gonna die soon'
 
E

El Topo

Member
TCRS said:
Is the evidence against Cosby so strong or why are so many people here condemning him even though a decision hasn't been made yet?
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He's been accused of such vile acts by more than 50 women, just to give on reason why virtually no one is giving him the benefit of the doubt.
 
B

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
TCRS said:
Is the evidence against Cosby so strong or why are so many people here condemning him even though a decision hasn't been made yet?
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in this case... there is room for doubt,

however cosby previously during the civil suit essentially admitted to sexually assaulting numerous women over the decades.

so while he could be found guilty or not guilty in this specific case, by his very own spoken words, that he MIGHT not end up in jail is a technicality of the legal process and evidence, not an absence of guilt.

if a murderer makes a statement that essentially amounts to a confession, ("I had an argument with them, I shot at them, I don't know if I hit them or not, and left but don't know if they were alive then")... without other evidence (circumstantial or otherwise) there really isn't much of a case there to prosecute.

in this case there was just enough evidence to actually take him to trial.. however I believe that's why previously there was just the civil suit.. because no one came forward where there was enough evidence to press criminal charges against him.
 
E

Emperor_Uriel

Member
He's going to get off, sad as it is.

What he did was indefensible, but if the evidence to convict him isn't there, then he has to go free. It sucks, but I'd rather one bastard get away with a ruined reputation than see hundreds of innocent people get tossed in jail because we lowered our standards for reasonable doubt just to punish him.

If you want to solve this problem, you'll teach your sons the value of consent at a very young age, and push your school district to introduce sex education into their elementary school curriculum. There are age-appropriate ways to explain these values to an eight-year-old that will greatly increase the likelihood of them remaining decent people for the rest of their lives.
 
L

Lace

Member
InfiniteBento said:
Over 30 hours of deliberations?

What the fuck
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I was on a jury where I spent two days (over 12 hours) in heated arguments with two gun right supporters that the use of a gun in a school shooting is intent to kill. I'm not shocked anymore.

Certain facts were also kept from our jury which otherwise would make charges like rape a slam dunk. Only googling later made me aware.
 
B

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
yeah, basically no one was confident he would be found guilty, but this was literally their last and only chance to try to hold him accountable for what he essentially admitted to. it was a long shot... and I don't really buy into the "he will be in a social prison for the rest of his life".. I don't think he really cares, and more than likely won't live beyond a few more years if reports of his health are accurate.
 
E

Ekai

Member
Rape defense force/rape culture in this topic is disturbing as all get out. Then again it always is.
 
P

psychowave

Member
I love it when men who haven't had to live with the fear of being raped since childhood think being falsely accused of rape is worse than being raped.
 
K

Ketkat

Member
borghe said:
Dismissive my ass. Both are horrible, life altering traumas. End of story.
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What the fuck? You seriously think someone being put on the sex offender list is as bad as someone being raped? You really must know nothing about what people who are raped go through to be saying bullshit like that
 
E

Ekai

Member
Ketkat said:
What the fuck? You seriously think someone being put on the sex offender list is as bad as someone being raped? You really must know nothing about what people who are raped go through to be saying bullshit like that
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Pretty much my thoughts.

psychowave said:
I love it when men who haven't had to live with the fear of being raped since childhood think being falsely accused of rape is worse than being raped.
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Between this and the Target topic, it's a good day to be a woman on Gaf.
 
E

Emperor_Uriel

Member
psychowave said:
I love it when men who haven't had to live with the fear of being raped since childhood think being falsely accused of rape is worse than being raped.
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Both are immensely serious and have the potential to annihilate a person's life. Neither should be downplayed.

Ideally, we have better sex education in the future that greatly reduces the frequency of both.
 
S

Snowman Prophet of Doom

Member
I'm betting it's one of three things:

1) One or two misogynists who wouldn't believe a rape happened unless the person were blatantly caught in the act.

2) A faction arguing the overwhelming likelihood of Cosby's guilt of rape in general being evidence enough of his guilt in this instance clashing with a faction who find the specific evidence in this instance uncompelling and are unwilling to find him guilty for it, even if they believe the other transgressions.

3) Blatant stupidity, i.e. "He was so nice on the Cosby Show I just can't imagine he's guilty of this".
 
O

OpinionatedCyborg

Member
Ekai said:
This post combined with your avatar....hmmm...
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what are you thinking?

Snowman Prophet of Doom said:
I'm betting it's one of three things:

1) One or two misogynists who wouldn't believe a rape happened unless the person were blatantly caught in the act.

2) A faction arguing the overwhelming likelihood of Cosby's guilt of rape in general being evidence enough of his guilt in this instance clashing with a faction who find the specific evidence in this instance uncompelling and are unwilling to find him guilty for it, even if they believe the other transgressions.

3) Blatant stupidity, i.e. "He was so nice on the Cosby Show I just can't imagine he's guilty of this".
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He has old age working in his favor too.
 
E

Emperor_Uriel

Member
Snowman Prophet of Doom said:
I'm betting it's one of three things:

2) A faction arguing the overwhelming likelihood of Cosby's guilt of rape in general being evidence enough of his guilt in this instance clashing with a faction who find the specific evidence in this instance uncompelling and are unwilling to find him guilty for it, even if they believe the other transgressions.
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It seems like this. The jury seems very diligent and is trying to come to a legally sound conclusion. Unfortunately, it seems like the court itself may be a bit bumbling.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-cosby-jury-struggles-to-reach-verdict/

Judge Steven O'Neill has seemed vexed at times as the court staff struggled to answer the jury's requests. One batch of requested testimony hadn't even been transcribed yet.
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