{"id":288471,"date":"2021-07-01T02:04:04","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T23:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/bill-cosby-isnt-a-good-man-but-due-process-isnt-just-for-the-good\/"},"modified":"2021-07-01T02:04:04","modified_gmt":"2021-06-30T23:04:04","slug":"bill-cosby-isnt-a-good-man-but-due-process-isnt-just-for-the-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/bill-cosby-isnt-a-good-man-but-due-process-isnt-just-for-the-good\/","title":{"rendered":"#Bill Cosby isn’t a good man\u2014 but due process isn’t just for the good"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Bill Cosby isn’t a good man\u2014 but due process isn’t just for the good<\/strong>”
\n<\/p>\n

\n

On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Bill Cosby and barred further prosecution of his alleged crime. This is good news<\/a>. Not because Cosby is an admirable man or has done nothing wrong \u2014 but because\u00a0legal niceties\u00a0aren\u2019t just for nice people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2005, Cosby was accused of sexual assault. After interviewing his accuser, the district attorney decided that the case couldn\u2019t be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The only way she could get any justice, he believed, was through a civil case.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But civil proceedings would be hindered by Cosby\u2019s right not to incriminate himself \u2014 a right he would retain as long as he faced the possibility of criminal charges. So the prosecutor publicly announced that he\u00a0wouldn\u2019t\u00a0charge Cosby.\u00a0In depositions for the\u00a0civil suit, Cosby offered\u00a0a host of self-incriminating statements that led to a large settlement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2015, a new DA reversed his predecessor\u2019s decision and charged Cosby. The resulting case relied on Cosby\u2019s self-incriminating statements. In the view of the state\u2019s highest court, this reversal constituted a denial of Cosby\u2019s due-process rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cSociety holds a strong interest in the prosecution of crimes,\u201d the court stated. \u201cIt is also true that no such interest, however important, ever can eclipse society\u2019s interest in ensuring that the constitutional rights of the people are vindicated.\u201d<\/p>\n

This alone was enough to overturn Cosby\u2019s conviction. It spared the court from pronouncing on another issue that could have blown up the case: The prosecution assembled at least 19 other women who accused Cosby of sexual assault, but all these allegations fell outside the statute of limitations. Nonetheless, one of these women was allowed to testify at Cosby\u2019s first trial, which resulted in a hung jury. At the second trial, which led to a conviction, five of the women were allowed to testify.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unless the court is very careful, such testimony risks prejudicing the jury. It can deny the defendant the presumption of innocence on the basis of allegations that the state cannot even prosecute.<\/p>\n

This strategy was not only used against Bill Cosby. It was employed against Harvey Weinstein, who has cited it \u2014 among other things \u2014 as grounds for overturning his conviction in an appeal. (Perhaps the strangest aspect of Weinstein\u2019s trial was the fact that the judge refused to remove a juror who had written a #MeToo-theme<\/a>d book and so had a clear interest in the outcome of the case, effectively strip<\/a>ping Weinstein of his right to a fair trial.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

People have been reluctant to examine these facts. Understandably so, because these men have behaved in unquestionably predatory ways. Still, the legal and factual shortcuts raise profound questions about the whole course of #MeToo.<\/p>\n

That movement arose when Ronan Farrow published explosive reporting about Weinstein\u2019s alleged assaults. Some of that reporting failed to meet basic journalistic standards<\/a>, but few cared. Weinstein went to jail, and Farrow went on to a celebrated career that only now has begun to unravel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sure of their ability to identify heroes and villains, the promoters of #MeToo have failed to uphold journalistic ethics, the presumption of innocence and due process. Their movement has destroyed the lives of countless people, most of them far less famous than Cosby or Weinstein.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But even the most hateful people have rights. We can\u2019t abridge them simply because a national mood commands us to do so. That is why the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overturned Cosby\u2019s conviction, and why New York courts may overturn Weinstein\u2019s. Vindicating justice requires rejecting the mistakes of #MeToo.<\/p>\n

Matthew Schmitz is a senior editor of First Things.<\/em><\/p>\n

Twitter<\/a>: @MatthewSchmitz<\/em>\n <\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Bill Cosby isn’t a good man\u2014 but due process isn’t just for the good” On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Bill Cosby and barred further prosecution of his alleged crime. This is good news. Not because Cosby is an admirable man or has done nothing wrong \u2014 but because\u00a0legal niceties\u00a0aren\u2019t just…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":288472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/06\/bill-cosby-released.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[72567,110714,82115,74200,93664,71895],"class_list":["post-288471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-metoo","tag-6-30-21","tag-bill-cosby","tag-harvey-weinstein","tag-ronan-farrow","tag-sexual-assaults"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}