My point, which you well understand but choose to ignore in favor of doing the exact thing the point addressed, is that imposing yourself into people’s grief and rage to sarcastically point out that they don’t understand the constitution will not help them understand your point.
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The thing is that DAs pull this kind of shit all the time. Most defendants just aren’t rich or powerful enough, or lucky enough to get the attention of a good lawyer who is willing to work their case pro bono.
Fucking A.
It’s amazing how Trump manages to surround himself with the world’s worst attorneys. Castor has now shown himself to be both a terrible prosecutor and defense attorney, and in both cases many suffer as a result.
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My point, which you well understand but chose to ignore, is that if we decide whether something is a “technicality” or an “important constitutional right” based on what we think about the person being affected, then we really don’t have rule of law at all. The prosecutor fucked up in a big moyst way, but I think this result, as horrible as it is, is better than the alternative which is to let prosecutors make fake promises of immunity and then revoke them. The deck is already stacked in favor of the prosecutor, they don’t need extra ways to fuck over defendants.
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Thing is, in jail or out, his legacy is destroyed, the memory of his crimes has not been erased, and he will die a despised rapist and abuser. This has to be hard on his victims to see him walk based on an idiotic prosecutorial deal, but the damage to him has been done. I guess that has to be enough? It still sucks, though.
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I think what beschizza is trying to point out is that while everything you say is true, it’s not really the time to tell that to people who are really hurt by Cosby being released. Which is true, and I may be a little guilty of that myself in my earlier comment. One thing we can all agree on is the system sucks.
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Dude. WE DON’T!!! The rich and wealthy get away with pretty criminal behavior all the time, while the poor, especially POC, rot in jail for much lesser crimes!
What world do you live in that we have a functional constitutional system that serves justice?
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How is your insistence more important than the very real pain and fear that Cosby’s victims are feeling right now?
That’s the message I got from Rob’s text. YMMV.
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Do you think anyone here is arguing to override the rule of law? At all? In any way?
So, what’s your real motivation to falsely accuse such?
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If I remember that was the whole issue. Most of the public allegations were from the 70s and 80s. The Andrea Constand case was the only one they thought they could prosecute since it was from 2004.
Well, that is part of rape culture. Even if the DA thought Cosby’s actions were reprehensible and clearly criminal it would have been a reasonable guess he would never be convicted, and would lead some people to think such an agreement is the best they can get. Of course there is also a good chance that the DA thought that it was no big deal and the women wanted it because Cosby is rich and famous – the point is it isn’t necessary.
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I really hope that’s true. Only time will tell. What’s most disgusting about the entertainment industry is how forgiving they are towards deplorable men and women. As Bill Burr famously pointed out years ago, any punishment is treated like the penalty box in hockey. They figure after a certain period of time, it’s fine to bring these folks back. We’ve seen many celebrities who have no problems working with people like this, too. Ultimately, they only care about money - and name recognition of infamous people is a marketing tool.
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That’s where people who put consideration of Cosby’s many and proven victims first would stop. By adding in the “but …” you showed us that it’s not your first priority.
For the rest of us, the follow-up discussion should really be “how do we make sure that clowns like Bruce Castor don’t get into positions where they can let down rape victims so spectacularly?” For those who are concerned about justice, the issue isn’t about whether or not we like the convicted criminal (per your bogus implication) but that prosecutors should be competent and apply the law in an equitable and fair manner.
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Everybody makes mistakes.
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It was the “presidential” edict of:
“And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
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About one out of more then a 160 rapes typically leads to conviction. While this is not the fault of Bruce Castor, the take home should likely be that it is 160 times more true that the deck is stacked against survivors of rape, not against rapists.
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Cases like this are difficult to discuss because lot’s of folks are right, and it produces people with valid points being angry at each other.
It’s unjust that this rapist fuck hurt so many people and ultimately paid so little in comparison to the harm he caused his victims. It’s also true that this was almost certainly the correct decision from the appellate court, and letting prosecutors renege on deals like this would (further) erode our system of justice.
It’s also fair to recognize and be furious that the justice system far too often fails the victims of sexual assault while also far too often over-zealously prosecutes the most vulnerable people in society while giving the rich and powerful passes. All this stuff is true, and recognizing one slice of it doesn’t require denying or even minimizing any other slice.
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It’s amazing the damage one bad (evil and/or incompetent) DA can do…
That’s what I thought - but more women have come forward, and I was hoping some might be recent enough…
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What isn’t true is that Rob and others here are deciding “whether something is a ‘technicality’ or an ‘important constitutional right’ based on what we think about the person being affected”. That’s just a BS mischaracterisation of the fact that we don’t like Cosby mainly because he is in fact (and according to evidence that remains unchanged) the serial rapist that the prosecution and – more importantly – his victims accused him of being.
Focusing on a gratuitous straw man argument and making it the priority of one’s assessment does minimise the importance of the other aspects.
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I bet any prison that you visit today has at least one, if not many more people who’ve been incarcerated under very similar deals, and they are still sitting in jail, because they are not wealthy, powerful men. I don’t see people here lining up to defend their constitutional rights, though.
Plenty of people sitting in prison, even on death row, are not only due a look at their case for a technicality, but because they are fully innocent of the crimes they’ve been convicted of and evidence is out there to support that. Yet, getting help for them is damn near impossible.
Cosby’s got his court to the appellate because he was rich and powerful. It allows the state to pretend like they give a shit about the rights of the accused and convicted, while continuing to hold prisoners that they know are innocent or who have been unfairly railroaded.
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