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[Dunamisdeos]

Does this justice taste funny to you?

I winced, but then chuckled.

I feel like the man was convicted, and shouldn't get out on what sounds like an unrelated, idiot technicality, but I'm still curious as to the circumstances.

[Lord Shonus]

Bill Cosby is walking free after his conviction got overturned on appeal due to a non-prosecution deal made in 2005

Parents and younger sister are apparently cheering over this right now in the next room.

I have to admit I'm not that familiar with his case. Was the evidence hard, or just overwhelming amounts of circumstantial? Naturally the internet has, shall we say, a wide range of opinions.

I feel kinda bad, I think I've asked this before on this forum.

The evidence was solid, but the conviction was tossed on procedural grounds. Basically, the DA agreed to give Cosby immunity on that charge in exchange for testimony at the inevitable civil suit, then turned around and prosecuted him anyway. That's arguably a double-jeopardy violation, and is specifically against the laws of that state. The DA, Bruce Castor, was also Trump's defense attorney during the second impeachment where his total incompetence was on full display.

This is a good thing. Due process is vital to protecting the rights of the accused, and violating due process should be grounds for throwing a case out. Fortunately, the toxic deal only dealt with one of his accusers, and the statute of limitations has not expired on all of them. He could very easily be arrested and charged again. He is also not protected from additional civil suits.

I feel like the man was convicted, and shouldn't get out on what sounds like an unrelated, idiot technicality, but I'm still curious as to the circumstances.

Imagine a situation where somebody steals a car for a joyride. The DA strikes a plea deal to limit it to a misdemeanor with six months of community service, only to demand and receive twenty years from the judge. That would be a nearly identical situation to what happened in this case, and I don't think anybody would argue that it would be very bad. Letting the wall of protections erode because Cosby really does belong in jail hurts everybody.

[TamerVirus]

Okay so Cosby was given a non-prosecution deal in 2005 by Bruce Castor.
He was later deposed under oath for civil suits. Because of the non-prosecution deal, he was unable to plead the fifth amendment and thus made self-incriminating statements. Fast forward till recently and a new DA, Kevin Steele, decides to criminally charge Cosby while using the incriminating statements against him. Statements that he wouldn't have made if the non-prosecution agreement wasn't in place.

That's the gist from what I've read

[Sirus]

Cosby deserves to be in jail, no question in my mind, but not if putting him in there violates his rights (and more importantly, leaves the possibility open for other DAs to start pulling similar stunts). It sucks, and his victims are (probably) going to be understandably upset that their attacker is loose again, but this is one of those cases where we need to emphasize the proper following of legal procedures.

[nenjin]

Except there is no record anywhere of any agreement from Bruce Castor. IF he actually promised that to Cosby and didn't document it, as much as I hate it then yes his rights were violated and Bruce Castor deserves to be in jail at a maximum, or lose his license to practice law at a minimum. Because prosecutors should not be able to pull stunts like that.

However if no one can produce that documentation, I say Cosby goes back in. Can you imagine having a multi-million dollar client and NOT GETTING YOUR PLEA DEAL IN WRITING? That's why I think this is bullshit. This also should have come up two years ago when Cosby was sentenced. Where was their claim of a deal made then? Why did they not produce the documentation then, to nullify that prosecution?

I suspect there's money at play here. That's the only reason I can conceive of why the primary evidence, an actual written agreement not to prosecute, hasn't been been produced by anyone. And the fact the judges took Cosby's defense team at their word is the most flabbergasting part.

Maybe there's evidence out there that Bruce Castor made such a deal, but so far I haven't seen it.

[TamerVirus]

Except there is no record anywhere of any agreement from Bruce Castor.

Here’s the relevant  2005 press release

But yes, it appears there’s no official agreement on paper.
Sounds like some backroom payola!

[nenjin]

All I read there is that he declined to prosecute. No mention of an agreement not to press criminal charges for Mr. Cosby's cooperation. Even going back 5 years, this was brought up as total bullshit. And it clearly didn't help during his actual trial. (I'm still looking to see if it was even used by the defense as an argument.)

I feel like Cosby's team is basically saying "look, if we knew this would be added to a criminal complaint we would have advised him not to speak." I.e, they assumed by letting him speak, this would all just "go away." Now they regret their decision. They wanted their cake and to eat it too.

I'm still struggling to understand how four judges are letting him off on a procedural issue while......completely ignoring the rest of procedure.

Seems like the kind of thing that might have been planned ahead of time. Pay Castor and come up with a verbal agreement that was specifically was not documented, so that when it comes to light  there's so much confusion that the only "clear" solution is to invalidate his conviction due to a violation of procedure.

Also Castor is saying no agreement was documented because "Cosby was worried about how it would look." Well, no shit. Admitting to being a rapist tends to have consequences like that. So I say boo hoo to his problem. He gambled and he lost. Documentation would have been instant CYA material. I don't feel like he should get to double and TRIPLE dip on his decisions.

[Jopax]

There was an idle game thread I was meaning to post in for a while now.

It's gone, I think it got nuked due to politics invading it?

Kinda sad but at the same time strange since it was literally 3 posts that could've ended then and there.

[None]

Maaaaan, most companies didn't even make to the end of the month to change their company logo on Linkedin from rainbow to standard.

I was gonna do a before/after today and tomorrow to sneer at corporations for immediately abandoning any LGBTQ signage, but, well, they got proactive about it.

[MrRoboto75]

Pinkerton LGBT logo was the best

[pisskop]

Honestly i would prefer they didnt sell out.  It cheapens everything they do, including the things that should otherwise be positive.

Like, they all dont need rainbows.  Its okay to have opinions and values that you dont use as a virtue signal.

[Frumple]

There was an idle game thread I was meaning to post in for a while now.

It's gone, I think it got nuked due to politics invading it?

Kinda sad but at the same time strange since it was literally 3 posts that could've ended then and there.

That actually is a bit of a wtf, 'cause the messy bit was cleaned up without much fuss, so far as I noticed, just a bit ago. Maybe boss toad misclicked somewhere and accidentally'd the thread?

[methylatedspirit]

On a Discord server far, far away, I revealed my voice by just entering a voice chat (which I did because my shrink really wanted me to). I now know what my voice sounds like to at least one other person: "Weird but good. A bit of an Indian accent" (paraphrased).

So I sound American to my parents, but I sound mildly Indian to an Italian. Huh. Also, my accent is "thick" to the point of occasional incomprehensibility, according to one other guy, and he's British. I really do have a foreign accent everywhere I go.

[EuchreJack]

NOT GETTING YOUR PLEA DEAL IN WRITING? That's why I think this is bullshit.

It doesn't have to be "in writing" like a contract, just "on the record", which means spoken out loud in court and recorded in front of a judge.  Which is arguably better, since the DA's office can't claim its a forgery.  But yeah, should be documented in some way, even impartial (neutral) witnesses that heard the deal would be something.

I've been totally saying that Cosby shouldn't have been prosecuted due to something like this (the deal not to prosecute) ever since the trial.  It's a small comfort to me that all my insane ravings about the case were at least semi-accurate.  You don't negotiate a deal for a large sum of money, then backstab them.  It hurts the legal system, because then nobody can resolve anything.

[EuchreJack]

On a Discord server far, far away, I revealed my voice by just entering a voice chat (which I did because my shrink really wanted me to). I now know what my voice sounds like to at least one other person: "Weird but good. A bit of an Indian accent" (paraphrased).

So I sound American to my parents, but I sound mildly Indian to an Italian. Huh. Also, my accent is "thick" to the point of occasional incomprehensibility, according to one other guy, and he's British. I really do have a foreign accent everywhere I go.

Well, you were talking English to an Italian.  You've made an art of translating sound to images and back again, so you know that 2 translations is going to lead to some data loss/warping.  You're a non-native English speaker talking to another non-native English speaker.  As your words go from your language, into English, and then into Italian, some data loss is to be expected.  Keep practicing!
I actually feel a bit better about your therapist for suggesting it.  A bit unorthodox, but seems like an overall good idea.