Did he do it or not?

Editor’s note: I am not an attorney, nor have I ever played one on TV. This blog post is not a commentary or evaluation of the United States legal system, only on Mr. Bill Cosby.

I won’t bury the lead.  Yes…he did it.  

How do I know? Well…he told us that he did it.

Bill Cosby walked out of a Pennsylvania state prison a free man yesterday, after Pennsylvania’s highest court “overturned” his sexual assault conviction.  In 2018, he was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman named Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia estate. And, during Cosby’s trial, 60 additional women came forward to say Cosby also sexually assaulted them the exact same way.

At his sentencing, the trial judge declared him “a sexually violent predator who could not be safely allowed out in public and needed to report to authorities for the rest of his life.” Yikes.

I wondered…with what flimsy evidence did the prosecutor charge Cosby with this crime, followed by a judge’s conviction and sentencing? The evidence was Cosby’s own confession from a deposition done during Constand’s civil trial against Cosby. Cosby admitted to giving his sexual partners quaaludes, but insisted the sex was consensual.  But Bill, was it?  Was it really consensual? Because we have 60 women who said that it wasn’t and described the same pattern of assault.

What in the world happened here? What would move a court to overturn this conviction? Due process happened here. The first prosecutor on Cosby’s case promised not to file criminal charges against the comedian if Cosby would testify in Constand’s civil lawsuit that was filed in 2005. Turns out, Pennsylvania’s highest court believes the subsequent prosecutor was bound to the promise made by his predecessor. A procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime.

I’m not here to debate the US legal system. I am here to say to you three very important things…

1. Bill Cosby sexually assaulted a lot of women during his reign as “America’s dad.” The “overturning” of his conviction does not dispute that. Please don’t forget that. It’s a lesson to not get illusioned by reputation or title if someone discloses sexual assault or sexual abuse.
2. If you are a victim of sexually assault or child sexual abuse, your voice matters.  You matter. Don’t let this stop you from speaking your truth.
3. Karma’s a bitch.