Posted with permission from The Dan Cirucci Blog
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Now that the dust has settled, let’s get right to the point: the Bill Cosby trial was a travesty.
Basically, this was a political show trial that was conducted for the benefit of the current Montgomery County (PA) District Attorney, Kevin Steele and those who voted him into office.
Because this was pretty much Steele’s only issue when he ran for office in the first place. He based nearly his entire campaign on this — that the previous DA failed to prosecute Cosby and that he (Steele) would.
This is how Steele got elected. And this, by the way, is also the best reason not to elect DAs.
Montgomery County had an excellent DA in Bruce Castor. But Steele convinced enough voters (many of who are privileged Main Line soccer moms and similar types) to throw Castor out and vote for him just so Cosby could be prosecuted.
Hey, we’ve never been big fans of Cosby and we don’t find such alleged behavior appealing. But facts are facts and the law imposes a high bar that begins with “innocent until proven guilt” and includes “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Remember: Cosby’s accuser in this case had already reached a civil settlement with The Cos. She sued him in 2005 and the case was settled for an undisclosed sum in 2006. That’s right, she got her money more than ten years ago and the case was supposed to be closed.
In fact, Cosby was reportedly assured that he would not be prosecuted at the time the agreement was reached. Cosby’s lawyers say the previous DA (Castor) made the agreement as part of an effort to persuade Cosby to testify in the civil suit which was settled out of court.
But Steele was hell bent on resuscitating the charges and hauling the case into court. In fact, lawyers for Cosby claim that Castor reminded his successor last year, before criminal charges were filed, about the existence of the nonprosecution agreement but that Steele simply ignored him because of the campaign promise to prosecute Cosby.
So Steele stuck to his plan, prosecuting an alleged crime that was more than 10 years old.
And let’s not forget the judge who agreed to let this case proceed and really offered no explanation for his decision. because, without the judge’s ruling, Steele could not have gone forward.
There was just one problem here all along: the prosecution really didn’t have a case. They didn’t have the evidence to nail Cosby. In fact, they had no physical evidence whatsoever. Cosby says his relationship with this accuser was consensual and the alleged victim (Andre Constand) kept in touch with Cosby even after the purported crime. But she claimed she was seeking an explanation for what happened.
At its best, this case was merely a he said, she said case (and a flimsy one at that) with absolutely nothing more to recommend it.
The total cost to the taxpayers for this circus? At least $200,000 and probably a lot more.
And Steele’s still vowing to try the case all over again. We’re talking at least a half-million-dollars down the drain here. It’s nonsense — pure nonsense!
Andrea Constand should have come forward immediately.
Now it’s too late, the cost it too high and the prospects are way, way too dim.
Time to let it go!
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