THE COSBY SHOW
The sentencing of Bill Cosby is both just and unjust.
In the world of morality and karma, it is certainly just. 60 accusers, many who did tell confidants about his actions near the time it happened, are too numerous and their tales too detailed to be lying. So by a moral standpoint, he deserves his sentence. In that case, 3 to 10 might be lenient. Cry not for Cosby.
But we are a nation that is supposed to be governed by laws that are enforced by dis-interested parties. The police, the attorneys, and the judges are supposed to be dispassionate observers who value truth and strive for justice. And in this, the Cosby case falls flat, and an unjust verdict is rendered.
When Andrea Constand brought her charges, the DA, Bruce Castor, did not believe they had sufficient evidence for a criminal charge. It has been reported that he promised not to bring charges against Cosby if Cosby made a deposition in Constand's civil suit. Cosby did so.
Constand won a $3.38 million dollar settlement in her civil suit.
In a just world, it would end there.
But in the 2015 DA race, Castor's opponent, Kevin Steele, made the case a primary focus and promised to charge Cosby criminally. Steele won and, days before the statute of limitations ran out, brought charges against Cosby.
Two points. If a DA can ignore promises made by his predecessor, there can be no trust of anything the DA's office says.
Worse, to make the prosecution of an individual a cornerstone of your campaign for office flies in the face of decency. We are not supposed to use political power to target individuals. That is what totalitarian states do, not the justice system of the United States.
So shed no tears for Cosby, but cry for the erosion of our judicial system; I think Justice herself is crying over this case.
The sentencing of Bill Cosby is both just and unjust.
In the world of morality and karma, it is certainly just. 60 accusers, many who did tell confidants about his actions near the time it happened, are too numerous and their tales too detailed to be lying. So by a moral standpoint, he deserves his sentence. In that case, 3 to 10 might be lenient. Cry not for Cosby.
But we are a nation that is supposed to be governed by laws that are enforced by dis-interested parties. The police, the attorneys, and the judges are supposed to be dispassionate observers who value truth and strive for justice. And in this, the Cosby case falls flat, and an unjust verdict is rendered.
When Andrea Constand brought her charges, the DA, Bruce Castor, did not believe they had sufficient evidence for a criminal charge. It has been reported that he promised not to bring charges against Cosby if Cosby made a deposition in Constand's civil suit. Cosby did so.
Constand won a $3.38 million dollar settlement in her civil suit.
In a just world, it would end there.
But in the 2015 DA race, Castor's opponent, Kevin Steele, made the case a primary focus and promised to charge Cosby criminally. Steele won and, days before the statute of limitations ran out, brought charges against Cosby.
Two points. If a DA can ignore promises made by his predecessor, there can be no trust of anything the DA's office says.
Worse, to make the prosecution of an individual a cornerstone of your campaign for office flies in the face of decency. We are not supposed to use political power to target individuals. That is what totalitarian states do, not the justice system of the United States.
So shed no tears for Cosby, but cry for the erosion of our judicial system; I think Justice herself is crying over this case.