Hasta La Gadget!

Andrea Constand and other Bill Cosby accusers were issued a setback on Saturday when Judge Steven O’Neill declared a mistrial in Constand’s sexual assault case against the comedian. 

But the women appear to be remaining hopeful that their accusations will one day lead to consequences for Cosby. 

At the trial, Constand was seen as a proxy for the 60 women who have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct by the comedian. Unlike others, Constand’s case was not precluded by statutes of limitations. A former employee of Cosby’s alma mater, she alleges that he drugged and sexually assaulted her at his home in 2004.

In a statement issued jointly with her lawyers on Saturday, Constand thanked prosecutors and police who worked on her case. 

“We could not begin to name the many people who have worked so diligently in pursuit of justice, not only for Andrea but for all victims of sexual assault,” the statement read. 

It continued, “We are confident that these proceedings have given a voice to the many victims who felt powerless and silenced.”

While prosecutors fought to call 13 other accusers to testify against Cosby, only one, Kelly Johnson, was permitted to do so. Still, several other accusers attended the trial. At its conclusion ― after 52 hours of deliberation left a jury of 12 in a deadlock ― they reacted with both sadness and continued determination.  

“A woman’s worth was on trial these past two weeks. Society has failed [Andrea Constand] and has failed us,” Cosby accuser Victoria Valentino said, per the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

“We’re devastated, but the work goes on.”

Linda Kirkpatrick, another accuser, said that Cosby underestimated the dozens of women who have spoken out against him. “He didn’t know we are seeds … uncovering the rape culture in this country,” Kirkpatrick said.

Jewel Allison, yet another accuser, stated outside the courthouse, as church bells tolled, “I think God is watching all of us,” NBC News reported.

Allison doesn’t think the mistrial is the win for Cosby that his spokesperson has declared it to be. “He walked out but the bars were all around him,” she said. “He’s mobile, but the jail goes with him wherever he goes.”

Valentino, Kirkpatrick and Allison all accuse Cosby of drugging and raping them. Their stories are joined by numerous others that, together, “paint a picture of a serial and methodical sexual predator who used his celebrity to exploit women,” HuffPost’s Emma Grey writes.

Gloria Allred, a feminist lawyer who counts dozens of Cosby’s accusers among her clients, issued a warning to the comedian.

On behalf of Andrea Constand and ourselves, we would like to thank the dedicated individuals of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office in particular Kevin Steele, Kristen Feden and Stewart Ryan and the many police officers and detectives who worked on this case, in particular Rich Schaffer, Jim Reape and Mike Shade. We wish to thank the Honorable Risa Vetri Ferman, who authorized the prosecution. We could not begin to name the many people who have worked so diligently in pursuit of justice, not only for Andrea but for all victims of sexual assault.

From the moment she revealed what had happened to her, Andrea sought to have this matter addressed in the criminal justice system. Given the manner in which she was dismissed by the previous district attorney, she had no option but to file a civil suit. We are confident that these proceedings have given a voice to the many victims who felt powerless and silenced. We commend those prosecutors who raise awareness that one of the hallmarks of drug-related sexual assaults is the affect the drug has on the victim’s memory and the ability to recall and were nonetheless willing to present this evidence to the jury.

We also wish to thank the jury for their tireless efforts and acknowledge their sacrifice.

Andrea and her family are asking everyone to respect her privacy at this time. Please do not try to contact her or her family.

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“I have a Harry,” a young dad in Minneapolis-St. Paul told me last month, as I signed a copy of my book for him. I’d heard that before and knew it meant that his five-year-old son liked playing with dolls and wearing mom’s heels.

“I’m okay with it,” he said, “but my wife isn’t quite there yet.”

While we didn’t get into the reasons his spouse was struggling to understand their child, I liked the optimism he projected with the word “yet.” I saw endless love, acceptance, and support reflected in his eyes. How fortunate that little boy and his no-doubt-worried mom are to have someone so secure and grounded in their family of three, I thought.

That fierce dad crossed my mind this Father’s Day weekend. He’s a reminder of the growing number of straight, cisgender men who are rejecting society’s stereotypical ideas of masculinity and “proper” male role models for their sons. And I reflected on comments my now-adult kid Harry’s awesome dad Ken made last September at my book event in hometown Milwaukee.

“Gay back then was the worst term of derision,” he said, “and it usually preceded getting beat up by somebody.”

“I think we mature generationally,” Ken began, as he told the story of how his father, a modern guy for his time, had worried about Ken as a creative kid who didn’t conform one hundred percent of the time attending a small-town high school. “Gay back then was the worst term of derision,” he said, “and it usually preceded getting beat up by somebody.”

“I grew up caring about what other people thought and believing one had to have the approval of people, but Harry taught me otherwise.”

Ken shared that his first concern when Harry came out in high school was for our son’s safety. “Because I loved him so much, my concern was that people would hurt him emotionally,” he said. “So my number one objective was to be there for him.”

Ken told the audience that in the process of being there for Harry, he also learned from him. “I grew up caring about what other people thought and believing one had to have the approval of people, but Harry taught me otherwise,” Ken said, describing himself as lucky to be our kid’s dad. “There’s a confidence about being himself; Harry defined for me self-love in a way that I thought was very healthy.”

When I think about Ken’s dad in the sixties, Ken as Harry’s dad since the nineties, and the fierce 21st century dad of the fortunate five-year-old in Minnesota, I see the generational shift in knowledge and growth Ken talked about so thoughtfully last fall. And I’ve seen the confidence kids get from the freedom that comes with being allowed to be themselves and express gender as they see it in ways that give them absolute joy.

The world needs boys who can nurture and girls who question authority. So I think it follows that fathers be as proud of their young sons who dress up as Wonder Woman as they are of their daughters who want to be Batman. Happy Father’s Day to evolving, gender revolutionary dad’s everywhere!

___________________________

You can read more from Julie on her personal blog, My Son Wears Heels, and also follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

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Camille Cosby has issued a scathing statement on the sexual assault case against her husband, Bill Cosby, which was declared a mistrial Saturday morning.

Bill Cosby stood aside as a public relations representative read aloud the statement from his wife, who has publicly supported her husband of 53 years after dozens of women came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct. 

Camille Cosby slammed counsel for her husband’s accusers, the media and Judge Steven O’Neill, who presided over the case. She called O’Neill “overly arrogant in collaborating with the district attorney,” whom she described as “exploitatively ambitious.”

Camille went on to express gratitude to “any jurors who tenaciously fought to review the evidence” and her husband’s legal counsel. 

“As a very special friend once stated, ‘Truth can be subdued, but not destroyed,’” she said in the statement. Read it in full below:

How do I describe the district attorney? Heinously and exploitatively ambitious. How do I describe the judge? Overtly arrogant in collaborating with the district attorney. How do I describe the counsels for the accusers? Totally unethical. How do I describe many, but not all, general media? Blatantly vicious entities that continually disseminated intentional omissions of truth for the primary purpose of greedily selling sensationalism at the expense of a human life.

Historically, people have challenged injustices. I am grateful to any of the jurors who tenaciously fought to review the evidence; which is the rightful way to make a sound decision. Ultimately, that is a manifestation of justice, based on facts, not lies. As a very special friend once stated, “Truth can be subdued, but not destroyed.”

Moreover, I express humongous gratitude to counselors Brian McMonagle and Angela Agrusa for their hard work. Mr. McMonagle for his passionate and powerful articulations of truths; Ms. Agrusa for her thorough research to bolster Counsel McMonagle; to Mr. Andrew Wyatt for his unequivocal skills in public relations; to our team, who worked diligently and intelligently; to our staffs for their continuous commitment to our family and me, and to our children, grandchildren, and other family who loves us, and to our dear friends and supporters who never gave up on us, despite it all.

After 52 hours of deliberation, a jury of seven men and five women could not reach a decision in the case brought by Andrea Constand. The 44-year-old accuses Cosby of molesting her after giving her drugs at his home in 2004.

In their defense, lawyers for the comedian focused on pointing out discrepancies in Constand’s story; Cosby himself did not testify in his defense. 

If convicted, the comedian might have been sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Camille Cosby appeared alongside her husband during the trial on Monday, when she arrived at the Norristown, Pennsylvania, courthouse arm-in-arm with the embattled comedian.

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If Queen Elizabeth II’s multiple birthday celebrations have given us one thing over the years, it’s ample opportunities to swoon over some royal cuties. In recent years, that’s Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

The two tiny royals joined the queen, Prince Philip, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry and members of the extended royal family on the balcony at Buckingham Palace Saturday for Trooping the Colour, the annual parade in honor of the queen’s birthday.  

All eyes were on George and Charlotte, in red suspenders and a pink, floral dress respectively, and both making unbelievably cute faces. But the rest of the family was looking pretty sharp, too. 

The media phenomenon formerly known as Kate Middleton looked so pretty in pink, while the queen went in a different direction from last year’s neon green look in a lovely pale blue look.  

Check out more photos from the event below. 

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After 52 hours of deliberations, the jury in the criminal case brought against Bill Cosby by Andrea Constand was unable to reach a unanimous consensus. On Saturday morning, Judge Steven O’Neill declared a mistrial.

Constand says that, in 2004, Cosby tricked her into taking three blue pills that incapacitated her and proceeded to sexually assault her. In December 2015, nearly 10 years after settling a civil suit with Constand in 2006 for an undisclosed sum, Cosby was charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault. 

Although Cosby wasn’t acquitted, and Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said that he planned to retry the case, a mistrial is unquestionably a win for the 79-year-old actor and comedian. A retrial will take time ― and it means that Constand will have to testify about her trauma again.

Journalist Dana DiFilippo tweeted a video of Cosby supporters celebrating after the mistrial was announced:  

Before the Cosby trial began, justice felt somewhat inevitable. Because in a situation like this one, it just feels like it should be.

A man is publicly accused of sexually assaulting nearly 60 women over the course of decades. The stories are explicit, horrifying and similar. Many of them involve drugging and brutal rape. Together, they paint a picture of a serial and methodical sexual predator who used his celebrity to exploit women. 

As far as the court of public opinion is concerned, Bill Cosby’s guilt was all but decided in late 2014, when the floodgates opened and women’s stories began pouring out on what felt like a near-daily basis. And it felt like, for the first time, people were listening. 

Of course, this was before the country had collectively propped up a man who bragged about grabbing women’s pussies without consent to our highest office. It was before more than 15 women had publicly accused a candidate for President of the United States of sexual assault with little to no tangible impact on his support.

In the cases of both Cosby and Trump, we’re reminded that women are viewed as unreliable narrators of their own experiences, and that powerful men who are accused of perpetrating sexual violence ― even by more than a dozen women ― are assumed to be victims. 

Barbara Bowman, one Cosby’s alleged victims who has been telling her story publicly since 2006, wrote about this phenomenon in an op-ed for The Washington Post in November 2014, after a Hannibal Burress joke about Cosby seemingly woke people up to the reality of his past: 

Why wasn’t I believed? Why didn’t I get the same reaction of shock and revulsion when I originally reported it? Why was I, a victim of sexual assault, further wronged by victim blaming when I came forward? The women victimized by Bill Cosby have been talking about his crimes for more than a decade. Why didn’t our stories go viral?

Two and a half years later, their stories have gone viral. But the legal outcome remains uncertain. 

The lack of a guilty verdict in this case speaks to the challenges that any alleged victim of sexual assault faces when seeking recourse through the criminal justice system. 

There are the statutes of limitations that prevent victims who wait to speak out from seeking criminal charges. There’s the lack of sensitivity training in some police departments. There’s the backlog of rape kits. There’s the difficult-to-prosecute “he said, she said” nature of many sex crimes. There are the questions victims of sexual assault know that they’ll likely be asked: “Why didn’t you report it sooner?” “Why did you talk to him after?” “Were you drinking?” “What were you wearing?” “Were you maybe kind of asking for it?”

Not only are sexual assaults underreported, but according to RAINN, just 7 out of every 1,000 rapists will see a felony conviction. That statistic doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

Cosby may have had significantly more money and fame and press coverage than most alleged perpetrators of sexual assault and rape. It would be easy to assume that his celebrity is what protected him, that Andrea Constand would have gotten justice if her rapist were anyone else besides “America’s Dad.” But statistically, she wouldn’t have. In many ways, his situation was the exception but at the end of the day, he’s the rule. 

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