Cosby released from prison, Geraldo Rivera Praises Bill Cosby’s Release, Bette Midler's allegation of being groped by Geraldo

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.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/30/us/bill-cosby-to-be-released/index.html

 

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....

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/geraldo-rivera-praises-bill-cosby-130136897.html

 

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.”...

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2017/11/bette-midler-speaks-out-against-geraldo-rivera

Friedman’s case – Capturing the Friedmans

Friedman’s case – Capturing the Friedmans

many of the quotes here come from:
Capturing the Friedmans: Annotated Bibliography http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/bib.html

Many viewers leave the theater believing that they have seen an objective documentary presented by a director who entrusted audiences to draw their own conclusions on Arnold Friedman’s and Jesse Friedman’s guilt. A careful review of the original evidence, however, shows that the case against the Friedmans was much stronger than the film revealed.

Geraldo Rivera’s interview with Jesse Friedman “Busting the Kiddie Porn Underground” February 23, 1989 — Geraldo!

Jesse’s attorney, Peter Panera, is interviewed. He tells how he and Jesse made a special trip to Wisconsin to visit Arnold Friedman in prison to convince him to reveal where he had hidden the photos and videos of the children. Arnold refused to reveal what he had done with them, despite the fact that it would have helped gain lenacy for his son. Jesse’s mother Ms. Friedman also appears on the show.


Geraldo Rivera’s interview with Jesse Friedman http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/geraldo.html

Geraldo: “How many kids, Jesse, did you and your father actually physically abuse in your home?” Jesse: (long sigh, appears to be mentally counting) “I guess 17.”….

The Secret Life of Arnold Friedman By Alvin E. Bessent – Newsday  — LI., NY May 28, 1989
http://web.archive.org/web/20060901203550/www.newsday.com/mynews/ny-friedman052889,0,1599081.story

Bessent reports on the victims’ fear of the Friedmans:
“As the abuse escalated so did the threats. Police said the children were extensively videotaped and photographed. No pictures of the children have been recovered. But police said Arnold Friedman told the children he would send pornographic pictures of them to magazines and tell the publishers to print their names if they told what was going on. He threatened to burn their houses down. He reportedly said he would kill their parents. . . . Some of the children who testified before the grand juries received threatening telephone calls warning them not to cooperate with police.” “Some of them still wet their beds, take baseball bats to bed with them or are unable to sleep.”
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/bib.html

State of New York v. Arnold Friedman.
Motion for order requiring return of property seized from 17 Picadilly Road, Great Neck, Nassau County, New York, seized pursuant to search warrant of November 25, 1987.  Motion #C-427, Indictment #67104 & 67430.
September 14, 1990.
Judge Abbey L. Boklan approved Arnold Friedmans’ request for the return of all property seized at the Friedman home with the exception of pornographic materials listed in this document.  Materials include such items as:  5 pornographic movies, assorted order forms for pornography, assorted pornographic magazine cutouts, 2 partially nude photos of children, 3 sheets advertising homosexuality with boys, 6 photos of naked people, 3 battery operated sex aids, 1 hypodermic needle, 9 pornographic computer games (with descriptions), list of names and phone numbers of 9 victims, 2 registration sheets with names of victims.


In Their Own Words:  Jesse’s Victims Speak Out
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/vict.html

Victims break their silence Victor Manuel Ramos — Newsday  — LI., NY  February 29, 2004 Newsday  staff reporter Victor Manuel Ramos interviews several of the victims who Arnold and Jesse Friedman plead guilty to abusing.

“For Gregory, the hullabaloo over Jarecki’s film — and whether the director will pick up an Oscar tonight — is a sideshow to the legacy of the abuse. Even now, Gregory said he sometimes wakes up at night shaking, especially after hearing of other child abuse cases on the news or elsewhere. What would be passing news to others, hits home for him.

Case of Arnold Friedman and Jessie Friedman “Capturing The Friedmans” http://web.archive.org/web/20070918045108/www.theawarenesscenter.org/arnoldandjessefriedman.html

http://capturingthefriedmans.wordpress.com/
Clear evidence is omitted and facts are distorted. In addition, the film relies on popular but erroneous myths about child sexual abuse. As a result, uncertainty is created about the guilt of two confessed pedophiles — who are recast as victims — while the real victims — the boys and their families — are portrayed as untrustworthy.

CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS”  Documentary or Whitewash?
http://capturingthefriedmans.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/capturing-the-friedmans-documentary-or-whitewash/

Man’s 1988 child molestation conviction to be revisited by Vivienne Foley, CNN August 17, 2010 “In August 2010, the 2nd Circuit Court decision stated that “… the police, prosecutors and the judge did everything they could to coerce a guilty plea and avoid a trial” and said there was a “reasonable likelihood” Friedman was “wrongfully convicted” of sexually abusing children.” Nassau County (Long Island) District Attorney’s office will re-open the case.

Teenager’s 1988 Sexual-Abuse Conviction Was Justified, Report Says
By PETER APPLEBOME June 24, 2013

Jesse Friedman, the Great Neck, N.Y., teenager whose role in a sexual abuse case a quarter-century ago was portrayed in the Oscar-nominated documentary “Capturing the Friedmans” and came to symbolize an era of sensational, often-suspect accusations of child molesting, was properly convicted and should not have his status as a sexual predator overturned, according to a three-year review that was released on Monday.
In a 155-page report written with very little ambiguity, the Nassau County district attorney, Kathleen M. Rice, concluded that none of four issues raised in 2010 in a strongly worded ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit were substantiated by the evidence.

Instead, it concluded, “By any impartial analysis, the reinvestigation process prompted by Jesse Friedman, his advocates and the Second Circuit, has only increased confidence in the integrity of Jesse Friedman’s guilty plea and adjudication as a sex offender.”....

Still, Mr. Friedman’s lawyer, Ron Kuby, and the film’s director, Andrew Jarecki, reacted with disappointment and anger, saying the report was a biased whitewash by the office that originally botched the case. Mr. Kuby promised to pursue appeals.....
 
Yet Ms. Rice’s report, in all instances, found that the preponderance of evidence pointed toward upholding the conviction. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/nyregion/friedmans-sexual-abuse-conviction-was-justified-report-says.html

Victims Say Film on Molesters Distorts Facts

Victims Say Film on Molesters Distorts Facts
By SHARON WAXMAN February 24, 2004

for more information on this case:
http://capturingthefriedmans.wordpress.com/

''Capturing the Friedmans,'' the Oscar-nominated documentary that raises questions about the guilt of a father and son convicted of child molestation, is being criticized by six of their former victims, who say the film omitted or distorted important information about their cases.

The six are suggesting that the director, Andrew Jarecki, created more ambiguity than actually existed about the case both to heighten the dramatic impact of the film and to elicit sympathy for the Friedmans. The film tells the story of the disintegration of a seemingly average Long Island family after the father, Arnold Friedman, and son, Jesse, were accused of molesting children in computer classes they held in the basement of their Great Neck home in the 1980's....

The mother said that Mr. Jarecki's film omitted a third co-defendant, Ross Goldstein, a teenage neighbor who also pleaded guilty to charges of child molestation and who corroborated some of the children's accusations at the time and went to prison. She also said that Mr. Jarecki omitted a tearful confession by Jesse Friedman in prison on Geraldo Rivera's talk show in 1989. Mr. Friedman detailed how his father had molested him as a child. In interviews Jesse Friedman has retracted his confessions, saying he pleaded guilty because he feared he could not get a fair trial and would get the maximum penalty....

Mr. Jarecki said the material on Mr. Goldstein was left out because it duplicated statements by the 13 children but was included in the just-released DVD. He said he considered the Rivera interview unnecessary, since the film showed Jesse Friedman's confession in court....

Two former victims, including the son of the woman who spoke to The Times, wrote an open but anonymous letter last week to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which will give out the Oscars on Sunday. They said that the film portrayed the victims as if they had invented their stories to satisfy an overzealous Nassau County police force.

They wrote: ''We did not lie. We did not exaggerate. We were never hypnotized to tell our stories.'' They said the director had twisted the facts in the film to make it appear that they had....

Mr. Jarecki denies that he has become an advocate for Jesse Friedman. Still, Mr. Jarecki has submitted an affidavit on his behalf to the court.

''One of the hallmarks of a balanced film on a controversial subject is that advocates on both sides will never be satisfied that the film supports their agendas,'' he wrote by e-mail. '
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/24/movies/victims-say-film-on-molesters-distorts-facts.html