Cosby lawyer has LV roots
Las Vegas attorney Kathleen Bliss, a former federal prosecutor, is a member of Bill Cosby’s legal team and delivered a closing argument at his trial.
She released the following statement to the Las Vegas Review-journal after Thursday’s verdicts in the Pennsylvania case:
“We believed in our defense and have no regrets whatsoever. This was about due process. I believed in it before this trial and through it and always. Mr. Cosby, a man of tremendous graciousness and love for his family and friends, took this jury decision with dignity and hope. We will appeal.” stood silently behind him, Steele apologized to her for a previous DA’S decision in 2005 not to charge Cosby.
Cosby “was a man who had evaded this moment for far too long,” Steele said. “He used his celebrity, he used his wealth, he used his network of supporters to help him conceal his crimes.”
He added: “Now we really know today who was really behind that act, who the real Bill Cosby was.”
Immediate reactions
Cosby was convicted of three counts of aggravated indecent assault, each carrying a standard sentence of five to 10 years in prison. The counts are likely to be merged for sentencing purposes, but given Cosby’s age even a modest term could mean he will die behind bars.
The fallout from the verdict was immediate: Bounce, a TV network that caters to black viewers, announced it would drop reruns of “The Cosby Show.” And Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh revoked an honorary degree awarded in 2007.
Since Cosby’s first trial, the #Metoo movement has taken down powerful men in rapid succession, among them Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Kevin Spacey and Sen. Al Franken. During closing arguments, Cosby’s lawyers slammed #Metoo, calling Cosby its victim and likening it to a witch hunt or a lynching.
Cosby’s new defense team, led by Mesereau, the celebrity attorney who won an acquittal for Michael Jackson on child-molestation charges, launched a ferocious attack on Constand during the trial, calling her a “con artist” and “pathological liar” who framed Cosby to get rich.
The star witness for the defense was Marguerite Jackson, a Temple employee who testified that Constand once spoke of setting up a prominent person and suing.
Constand sued Cosby after prosecutors initially declined to file charges, settling with him for nearly $3.4 million more than a decade ago.
Cosby’s defense team derided the other accusers as home-wreckers and suggested they made up their stories in a bid for money and fame.
But Cosby had long ago confirmed some of the rumors about drugs and extramarital sex. In a deposition he gave more than a decade ago as part of Constand’s lawsuit, he acknowledged he had obtained quaaludes to give to women he wanted to have sex with.
Entertainer broke barriers
The entertainer broke racial barriers as the first black actor to star in a network show, “I Spy,” in the 1960s. He created the top-ranked “Cosby Show” two decades later. He also found success with his “Fat Albert” animated TV show and appeared in commercials for Jello-o pudding.
Later in his career, he attracted controversy for lecturing about social dysfunction in poor black neighborhoods, railing against young people stealing things and wearing baggy pants.
Comedian Hannibal Buress was credited with helping to start the avalanche of allegations against Cosby when he called the TV star a rapist on a stand-up comedy stage in 2014 and a fan’s cellphone video of the moment went viral.
Not long after, a federal judge, acting on a request from The Associated Press, unsealed portions of Cosby’s deposition about quaaludes and sexual conquests, citing the disconnect between Cosby’s private behavior and his reputation as a public moralist.
The deposition release in 2015 prompted authorities to reopen the criminal investigation, and they eventually brought charges.