Cosby vindicated?
Dear Editor,
I’m not a lawyer, but I was overjoyed to learn that Bill Cosby’s conviction was yesterday overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The case had a lot of flaws. Cosby was allegedly a playboy and a player at the peak of his successful career which brought him fame and fortune. Women were always around him and drug use must’ve been common in those circles. But you can’t go to a man’s house and bedroom late at night, alone, then say you went to seek ‘career advice’. These women waited several decades to air their grouses and press charges against the man. It does not mean Cosby did no wrong, but this backfired; Cosby cannot be retried.
On top of that, the woman who brought the case against Cosby, Andrea Constand, accepted a financial settlement and signed a non-disclosure agreement in a civil suit, which by no means is an acknowledgement of guilt. The agreement was broken, and contents used in the sexual assault case against Cosby.
He has been defiant from day one. He refused to admit guilt and, while serving time in prison, refused to participate in programmes developed for sex offenders, even when his parole and early release was on the line. He stood up for what he believed in, and, finally, it earned him his release. It is far too easy to convict black men in the US.
Cosby’s case was one of the first high-profile cases in the era of the #Metoo movement. People got away with saying and doing things years ago, when culturally it was not a big deal. Things have changed.
I recall another high-profile case in the late 80s, dubbed the Central Park Five, where five young, black men were wrongly convicted for assault and rape based on flimsy evidence. The case was fought until they were released years later and they sued for discrimination and received a huge settlement for wrongful conviction. The Netflix drama series When They See Us was difficult to watch, but it captured the story brilliantly.
From the 1960s Bill Cosby has been breaking racial barriers and stereotypes in film and TV. He starred as Dr Heathcliff Huxtable in the very popular TV sitcom
The Cosby Show in the 1980s and 1990s when blacks were rarely seen in positive roles on TV and the big screen.
As Cosby’s TV wife Phylicia Rashad said upon hearing the recent ruling, “Finally, a terrible wrong is being righted — a miscarriage of justice is corrected!”
Cosby, who is now 83, might not have the energy, but he should consider going after Constand to sue for damages and breach of agreement and recover what she was paid years ago in that settlement. Now that should be an easy case.