Bill Cosby is a free man after Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturns sex assault conviction
By Ray Sanchez, Sonia Moghe and Kristina Sgueglia, CNN
June 30, 2021
Bill Cosby was released from prison Wednesday after Pennsylvania's highest court overturned his sexual assault conviction, saying the disgraced actor's due process rights were violated.
The stunning decision in the case of the man once known as "America's Dad" reverses the first high-profile celebrity criminal trial of the #MeToo era.
The panel of Pennsylvania State Supreme Court judges said in their opinion that a former Montgomery County district attorney's decision to not prosecute Cosby in 2005 in return for his deposition in a civil case was ultimately used against him at trial.
"In light of these circumstances, the subsequent decision by successor D.A.s to prosecute Cosby violated Cosby's due process rights," the judges wrote.
Cosby was sentenced in 2018 to 3 to 10 years in a state prison for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in 2004....
For victims who sought closure in the case's resolution, the ruling represented "a slap in the face" in the words of Lisa Bloom, the attorney for three accusers.
Bloom said she thinks it could be "a very hard day" for all the women who accused him of sexual assault....
"My hope is that this decision will not dampen the reporting of sexual assaults by victims. Prosecutors in my office will continue to follow the evidence wherever and to whomever it leads. We still believe that no one is above the law -- including those who are rich, famous and powerful."
Constand and her attorneys said the decision to vacate Cosby's conviction is disappointing.
"Today's majority decision regarding Bill Cosby is not only disappointing but of concern in that it may discourage those who seek justice for sexual assault in the criminal justice system from reporting or participating in the prosecution of the assailant or may force a victim to choose between filing either a criminal or civil action," Constand and her attorneys said in a statement.
Geraldo Rivera Praises Bill Cosby’s Release, Says Harvey Weinstein ‘Unjustly Convicted’
Lindsey Ellefson Thu, July 1, 2021
Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera said Wednesday that he supported Bill Cosby’s release from prison, decrying what he called the “mob justice” of the comedian’s 2018 conviction on sexual assault charges.
While many expressed outrage at Cosby’s release and the overturning of his conviction, Rivera said that the comic’s prosecution “never should have happened” and asked: “How is he going to get back the two years that he has lost now?” He also suggested that Harvey Weinstein was “unjustly convicted” and that the disgraced mogul might find similar recourse in appealing his own 2020 conviction on rape charges in New York.
John Roberts, who was anchoring “America Reports” at the time of Rivera’s comments, responded, “You say, ‘How is he going to get back the two years that he has lost while being in prison?’ How will the 58 women who say he did to them what they say he did ever get back any sense of justice here, and any sense of ever being whole again?”....
Cosby’s case is one of the most high profile of the #MeToo era. He was convicted in 2018 of drugging and sexually assaulting a former Temple University employee, Andrea Constand, at his home in 2004. Though the case involves just one woman, at least 60 women have come forward to accuse the former entertainer of sexual assault....
Geraldo Rivera Apologizes to Bette Midler for “Embarrassing Her All Those Years Ago”
“Geraldo may have apologized for his tweets supporting Matt Lauer, but he has yet to apologize for this.” By Hilary Weaver November 30, 2017
Geraldo Rivera tweeted an apology to Bette Midler Friday for an alleged incident of inappropriate sexual behavior that she described in a resurfaced 1991 interview with Barbara Walters....
On Wednesday, Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera posted a series of tweets in which he defended Matt Lauer, who had been fired from the Today show following reports that Lauer had displayed “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.” Rivera later apologized for his defense of Lauer, but his apology was too little, too late for Bette Midler who, in her own tweet, reminded her followers of an incident she says she experienced with Rivera years ago....
“O.K., get in a little trouble,” Midler said. “Well, Geraldo and his producer came to do an interview with me . . . This is when he was very sort of hot. He and his producer left the crew in the other room. They pushed me into my bathroom, they broke two poppers and pushed them under my nose, and proceeded to grope me . . . I did not offer myself up on the altar of Geraldo Rivera. He was unseemly. His behavior was unseemly.”...
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