Bill Cosby

Bill Cosby has been accused of sexual assault in a series of allegations by over fifty women over the past four decades. His attorneys have issued statements over the past years dismissing the stories as lies. Cosby remained silent on all accusations, but a 10 year old deposition was released the past summer where he details seducing very young women, including giving them drugs. The drug in question is Quaaludes. Cosby had several prescriptions, but he never took them because they made him sleepy. Instead, as stated in his deposition, he used them to have sex with younger women. He also acknowledged that he knew it was illegal to give them to another person. The release of the deposition forced police officials to review the statue of limitations of the potential criminal offenses against Cosby, and to reopen the cases against him.

Comments from Allen:
Now the world finds out what happens when 50+ women get victimized by one man, after the statutes of limitation have run on all but one of the women.  Furthermore, I could teach a law school Evidence class, and cover a lot of ground, by using the facts of this one case.

Question 1:  Who can testify at the trial?  I can think of about 50 people who would love to testify at the trial, but only one of them was a witness to Cosby raping Andrea Constand.  The prosecutor would love to get the court to allow 50 victims of other similar crimes to testify under Rule of Evidence 404(b), which is used in criminal cases throughout the United States:

Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show that the person acted in conformity therewith.  It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity or absence of mistake or accident...."

In addition, the prosecutor would like to have the court allow the other 50+ women to testify under Rule of Evidence 406, "Habit, routine practice:"

Evidence of a habit of a person or of the routine practice of an organization, whether corroborated or not and regardless of the presence of eyewitnesses, is relevant to prove that the conduct of the person or organization on a particular occasion was in conformity with the habit or routine practice.

In my opinion, these two rules of evidence allow the prosecutor to bring in as many of the other victims as they choose, provided each victim who testifies gives testimony that she was attacked by Mr. Cosby in the same manner as Ms. Constand: invited to his place for a non-romantic purpose, drugged, and then molested when unconscious or disabled.

On the other hand, the Cosby defense team (700 lawyers if you believe Gloria Allred) no doubt has a 50 page brief prepared for the court on this subject, invoking Rule of Evidence 403, which states:

Although relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence.

I expect the Cosby defense team to ride this rule all day long.  Team Cosby will look for differences in the stories of the victims to claim the prosecution is misusing the other rules which allow evidence of other wrongs.  They will claim Mr. Cosby would be unfairly tried if he had to face evidence of heinous crimes which were never prosecuted (which is actually a very strong defense); in other words, it would be unfair for Mr. Cosby to have a jury sitting in judgment of him in a trial concerning whether he raped Ms. Constand to hear he committed 50 other felony rapes, when in fact he has never been convicted of a single one.  Had the other 50 rape cases been tried to juries, Mr. Cosby might have been acquitted on all of them, in which case this jury would not be allowed to hear one single allegation that Mr. Cosby had drugged and molested another woman in the past.  Furthermore, it is not Mr. Cosby's fault that none of these cases came to trial.

There used to be a rule barring introduction of prior felony convictions over 10 years old.  Currently, Rule 609 allows such evidence if it helps prove Mr. Cosby is lying but is not unfairly prejudicial to him.  The current version of the rule hurts Mr. Cosby, in that the old presumption that a 10 year old bad act was irrelevant no longer applies, and the only defense Mr. Cosby can raise to stop the 50+ women from testifying against him is Rule 403.

I believe a large number of the prior victims may testify in this case, no matter how long ago they were molested.

In my opinion, there is good news and bad news for Mr. Cosby.  The good news is that he can't go to prison for more than 10 years for this crime.  The bad news is that he may very well spend 10 years in prison for this crime.  If convicted, and I believe he will be convicted, the sentencing judge will be allowed to hear testimony from each of the victims when fashioning his sentence, and I would not be surprised if America's Dad gets "three hots and a cot" for ten years fixed.

I believe the only way Mr. Cosby avoids this is by agreeing to plead "guilty" to some lesser felony in a binding plea agreement in which he agrees to spend a lesser amount of fixed time in prison, and the judge agrees to honor that agreement by not sentencing him to additional time.

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Allen Browning is an attorney in Idaho Falls, Idaho who handles personal injury and criminal defense. He has over 30 years of experience and handled thousands of cases. Allen handles cases from all over Idaho. Call (208) 542-2700 to set up a free consultation if you are facing legal trouble or you have been involved in an accident.

Also, check out browninglaw.net for more information about Allen and Browning Law.

Allen Browning can help with all personal injury claims including motor vehicle accidents,truck accidents, auto accidents, serious and disabling accidents, and wrongful death claims.

Allen Browning is an Idaho Falls attorney who can also help with drunk driving (DUI), traffic violations, Felony, Misdemeanor, Domestic Violence, Drug Crimes, Theft, Juvenile Crimes, battery and assault charges, Violent Crimes, and Probation/Parole Violations. He is one of the most experienced and successful criminal defense attorneys in Idaho.


Allen is able to provide his services if the incident occurs in the following Idaho Areas: American Falls, Arco, Blackfoot, Boise, Burley, Driggs, Idaho Falls, Malad City, Pocatello, Rexburg, Rigby, Salmon, St. Anthony, Twin Falls, Bannock County, Bingham County, Bonneville County, Butte County, Cassia County, Clark County, Fremont County, Jefferson County, Lemhi County, Madison County, Oneida County, Power County, Teton County, and Twin Falls County.    
Sources for more information:

 http://www.buzzfeed.com/salvadorhernandez/cosby-details-sexual-liaisons-with-women-in-deposition#.uymNNDmxM

http://www.buzzfeed.com/nicolasmedinamora/the-long-road-to-criminal-charges-against-bill-cosby#.drm00KWBG
      -Criminal Complaint

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bill-cosby-drugging-women_559af2d6e4b04a9c98e82247

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