Bill Cosby's conviction was overturned and he was released from prison

 

Bill Cosby in 2011. World Affairs Council of Philadelphia 

Bill Cosby's rape conviction was overturned on appeal today and he was released from prison. NBC News. Pennsylvania's Supreme Court overturned the conviction. At issue was a non-prosecution agreement which forced Cosby to testify that he had had sexual contact with Andrea Constand and said he consensually drugged her. Cosby waived his 5th amendment rights against self incrimination on the condition he wouldn't face criminal charges from his testimony. Much later after the original prosecutor had left, new prosecutors, used the testimony to convict Cosby of rape. The Court said that this violated Cosby's 5th amendment rights along with his 14th amendment rights. Cosby was convicted in 2018 after his first trial ended in a mistrial. 

My Comment:

Fairly shocking news today as I, and everyone else, assumed that Bill Cosby was going to die in prison. But now he is a free man and cannot be charged in this case again. It's possible that some of the other cases could lead to another conviction but I think the statute of limitations most likely has run out. 

I do think he had a very strong legal argument though. If you waive your 5th amendment rights against self incrimination with a prosecutor under the understanding you won't be charged for your testimony then it is prosecutorial misconduct to charge you based on that testimony. And it also seems clear that Cosby's civil court testimony was what lead to his conviction. The case was otherwise not strong with it being a he said she said case. 

I think that this is a good thing. Despite Cosby most likely being guilty of the crimes he was charged with, even he has civil rights and cannot be convicted on evidence gathered in violation of his civil rights. Indeed, this case makes me feel slightly better about the criminal justice system. Even though there was immense political pressure to keep Cosby in prison, the court made the right decision. 

And it's not like Cosby got away without being punished. He still spent three years in prison, which was the lower end of his sentence anyways. His conviction was overturned but he still spent three years near the end of his life in prison. Plus his professional career is totally over and his legacy is in ruins. He won't ever be considered anything but a creepy rapist. 

I know a lot of people are angry about this and they are saying that it may discredit the entire Me Too movement. That seems stupid for a couple of reasons. First of all the Me Too movement is dead now. It started losing influence once high profile Democrats started to get caught up into it, with Al Franken being the highest profile person being taken down. But the movement died when Tara Reade accused Joe Biden of sexual assault. By that point the movement died. 

Plus this is an edge case regardless. Bill Cosby got out not because people didn't believe him or because the system was biased in his favor. Instead he got out because the prosecution screwed up and screwed up badly. The uniqueness of this case probably means that we shouldn't expect it to have much of an impact. 

As for Cosby, I don't see him doing much in the little bit of time he has left. He's too old to do much anyways at 83 and I am guessing he will probably try to keep a low profile. I don't think we will see anything much out of him other than a possible book or something similar. And even that seems pretty unlikely.