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Is Racial Bias a Factor In Cosby Jury Selection? (Videos)

NB Commentary: Personally, I don’t think it’s about race. I am sure they will be hard pressed to find a jury that either didn’t hear about the allegations or never heard of Bill Cosby. I mean next to Oprah and Barack Obama, what other internationally known Black person have we heard of coming out of Hollywood especially during those days. Not to mention his TV series and commercials. If anything, folks will be more lenient even tolerant or maybe even disbelieving in the allegations due to his notoriety.

It’s about Hollywood, it’s about being a part of the shenanigans that go on in Hollyweird. It’s about how they chose certain folks to be “Super Stars” and how they exploit them once they agree to being chosen. It’s about the promises that are made to them and what they have to do to still be a part of the game. It’s about the parties, the backroom deals, the wine, women and song. And may I add, drugs and other nefarious goings on that happen in Hollyweird. Eddie Murphy said something to the effect, that it’s hard to get out of Hollywood clean.

Back in the day, much of the stuff that went on in Hollyweird was hidden from the public, nowadays, there are a plethora of articles, documents and YouTube videos that tell the story of what happens in Hollywood. Bill Cosby was chosen to play a role and as long as he played that role, he was able to do whatever he did. I strongly believe he decided he didn’t want to play ball anymore. Not sure what ball they threw his way, but for sure, these folks in Hollyweird make you an offer you can’t refuse.. Or you go down and it’s just that simple. It ain’t about race, it’s about the game. If you are gonna be a player, then you gotta play…. Or else.
By  Associated Press  May 24, 2017
Bill Cosby arrives for the second day of jury selection in his sexual assault case at the Allegheny County Courthouse. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
PITTSBURGH (AP) — With just one Black person seated among the first 11 jurors chosen for Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial, defense lawyers are crying foul and accusing prosecutors of trying to systematically keep Blacks off the jury.
The lawyers returned to court on Wednesday in Pittsburgh to pick a 12th juror and six alternates. Cosby arrived Wednesday just before 8 a.m.
For now, Judge Steven O’Neill has rejected the race bias argument.
Prosecutors said race was not a factor in their decision to strike two Black women from the panel this week. They said one was a former Pittsburgh police detective who sued the city after she was arrested in a public scandal.
O’Neill pledged to revisit the issue if defense lawyer Brian McMonagle, who had accused prosecutors of “a systematic exclusion of African-Americans,” presented statistical evidence to back that up.
The 100 people summoned to the Allegheny County courthouse for juror consideration so far have included 16 people of color. A new jury pool will be summoned on Wednesday.
The jurors selected on Tuesday included a Black woman who said she knew only “basic information” about the case, a young white man who initially expressed a tendency to believe police and two people who said they don’t read or watch the news.
The jury now consists of seven men and four women — all but one of them white — in a case that Cosby has said may have racial undertones.
The actor-comedian once known as America’s Dad for his beloved portrayal of Dr. Cliff Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” is charged with drugging and molesting a Temple University women’s basketball team manager at his home near Philadelphia in 2004. He has called the encounter consensual. Dozens of other women have made similar accusations against Cosby, 79, but O’Neill is allowing only one of them to testify at the June 5 trial in suburban Philadelphia. The jury from Pittsburgh will be sequestered nearly 300 miles from home.
Cosby, in an interview last week, said race could be a motivating factor in the accusations against him.
“Race plays a role in every trial, but it shouldn’t eclipse … the evidence,” Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson said. “This case is frankly more about gender, celebrity, how women are treated [and] Bill Cosby’s credibility. But race may take a more focused perspective because the defense has [raised it] recently.”
The trial will take place in Montgomery County, where Cosby had invited Andrea Constand to his home in 2004. Constand said she went seeking career advice. She said Cosby gave her wine and pills that put her in a stupor before molesting her on his couch. Constand was 30 and dating a woman at the time, while Cosby was 66 and long married to wife Camille. Cosby in sworn testimony has said he put his hand down Constand’s pants but said she did not protest.
Cosby has said he does not expect to testify.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are the victims of sexual assault unless they come forward, as Constand has done.
Cosby was arrested Dec. 30, 2015, just days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired. He has pleaded not guilty and remains free on $1 million bail.

LINKS OF INTEREST
Watch Long-Lost Footage Bill Cosby Eyeing Sofia Vergara in Interview
Bill Cosby Moves to Bar Victim Expert From Sex Assault Trial
Published on Nov 1, 2016
Bill Cosby’s lawyers pressed a judge Tuesday to keep the comedian’s
damaging deposition in a decade-old lawsuit out of his sexual assault trial,
saying he agreed to answer questions after being assured he wouldn’t
be charged with a crime. (Nov. 1)
The Buzz: Cliff Huxtable Is Not a Rapist
THE CENTRAL QUESTION IN THE BILL COSBY CRIMINAL CASE
Off The Hook! Bill Cosby’s Wife Gets Deposition Postponed
Bill Cosby Won’t Be Charged in Two Sexual Assault Cases
Bill Cosby Gives First Interview About Allegations in Two Years: Racism ‘May Very Well’ Be a Factor
Bill Cosby’s Daughter Defends Him, Calls Rape Allegations ‘Harsh & Hurtful’
What is the Spousal Privilege?
Mother of Bill Cosby accuser Jennifer Thompson sends letter to comedian’s wife Camille Cosby
LAPD to search Hugh Hefner’s estate during Bill Cosby sexual assault investigation
No, Mrs Mugabe, I am not responsible for my rape.
Bill Cosby arraigned; TV star’s attorneys vow to fight ‘unjustified’ charge
Bill Cosby Look-Alike: “My Life Sucks Now”
We must abandon Bill Cosby: A broken trust with women, black America
What Bill Cosby’s Fall Says About the New Age of Television
Bill Cosby rape allegations explained: Why are these allegations coming out now? And why has nobody taken legal action?
Bill Cosby Thinks Sexual Assault Allegations May Be Rooted in Racism, Does Not Plan to Testify Against Andrea Constand
Convicted Killer of Ennis Cosby Confesses
I Warned You About Bill Cosby in 2007
The public may be waking up to the mountain of rape allegations now, but women were coming forward years ago to warn that the Jell-O Man was not so sweet.
Bill Cosby’s Untold Story: Agony, Ambition and a Son’s Tragic Murder
Murder of Ennis Cosby
Can Respect Mute Media’s Frenzy in Cosby Slaying?
January 17, 1997|HOWARD ROSENBERG
Bill Cosby’s secret messages disclosed MKULTRA ‘Rape Demon’ redux
THE MURDER OF ENNIS COSBY
Cosby Show, Boule’ and the News: The Cause for Killing Off Cos
What did Bill Cosby do to piss someone off in Hollywood?

Category:

allegation, Andrea Constand, Camille Cosby, Court case, Dr. Huxtable, Hollywood, House of Fraser, NBC, news, Philadelphia Daily News, Television, The Cosby show, trial

The Cosby Saga: Introduction (Videos)

NB Commentary: Bill Cosby is about to be back in the news. After a little over a year or so, the media attention will be focused on him once again. Unless of course they give us something else to focus on. Which is quite likely.

I am going to create a video playlist… and hopefully I won’t get too distracted from this project. But I have written several blogs on this topic and I wish to share my thoughts with you on some of the topics that I covered in my blog.
This is a weird adventure for me because I actually met Bill Cosby. In fact, I have never been given to the star mania, but there were a handful of “stars” who derived the allure from me that most others did not, so when I met him, I was overwhelmed and practically became faint. He had become a household word in my life as a young teenager and young adult. He was a black man that I listened to. His comedy albums were something that you cherished.
Back then to even purchase one album was a sign of having some significant income, not too mention having a library of albums by various artist and entertainers. 
I grew up around the Red Fox, Richard Pryor and several other “foul” mouthed comedians who were only played at adult parties. It was awesome to listen to a black man, make us laugh and be able to do it in the light and around children and family members.
We would sit on our steps on summer nights and mimic his routine. Most of us had never even seen him in person but we knew his albums by heart and we would sound like him at least.
There was one youth on our block who was so funny, before he started mimicking Cosby, that when he added Cosby to his repertoire, he was even more funny and he kept us laughing till we shed tears and other bodily fluids.
So, it is definitely disheartening to have this man, a superstar in our eyes back then and an icon, AKA America’s dad in the eyes of the more contemporary folk.
The great thing about age is that you were there when it happened. And then again, you find out as you get older, that you were not really there on some levels, particularly if they were covering up and had hidden agendas.

All we knew back then was that he was a black man and he was funny as hell and that he didn’t curse and he talked about his life and family to such a degree that we could all relate to it, especially since we were from Philadelphia.
What we did not is the Hollywood drama. We did not know the shenanigans that went on behind the scenes. We were not privy to the real Cosby and what he had to do to become the “icon” or “America’s Dad”. We did not know any of that. And it is so true today, that many folks have no clue of what happens behind the scenes when it comes to the folks they adore, the stars they emulate and even want to be like. They have no clue as to what has to happen to these stars or even what happened to them before they became entertainers.
Today, we have the Internet. In the 50’s and 60’s we had black and white televisions and lp’s and 45’s. We had one or two papers in the neighborhood.  We had Jet Magazine, Sepia and Ebony. There were few publications that catered to the Black community so we got our news from Time, Newsweek, Look and sometimes Reader’s Digest.  None of these publications would talk openly about what went on behind the scenes in Hollywood. And if so, it would be inferred or in fiction form. Every once in a while a brave reporter would go deep into a story and tell all, but still those stories were syndicated and only written in certain news outlets and magazines. In those days we had word of mouth or gossip in some cases about the stars, but if it was about someone we favored, we would blow it off as jealousy.
Nowadays, the wealth of information and the ability to gain more and more of it, is sometimes overwhelming, and while you may want to get your hands on it all, it is virtually impossible to do so, so you have to pick and focus and stay focused.
What I wish to do with this video series is discuss the some many tentacles that are part of the Cosby Saga.
I will start with this article from Atlanta Black Star.

  • Then I will talk about Camille Cosby.
  • Then I want to go to my dream.. I really think that my dream has all the following elements in it.
  • I will address what folks perceive as racism when Bill Cosby was targeted for the “fall” from grace.
  • I will give you all a little history on Bill Cosby, his background and how he came into being the “clean” comedian.
  • I will discuss the “rape” allegations and their implications particularly as it has been such a long time and that the women are coming out now and what media hype it created. I want to talk about the real women and the real “victims” and the reason they may not have said anything when it happened.
  • I want to address the “Cult of Personality” and how we get caught up in it thinking the person we see on screen is really the person and how we don’t realize they are “actors” playing a role.
  • I want to talk about his age and career, and what the implications are if convicted or not.
  • I want to talk about Enis, his son and the mystery still surrounding it.
  • I hope that I can stay focused enough to get through this all.
  • I may throw in another video here and there as I make it through this series.
Links Of Interest
Watch Long-Lost Footage Bill Cosby Eyeing Sofia Vergara in Interview
Bill Cosby Moves to Bar Victim Expert From Sex Assault Trial
Published on Nov 1, 2016
Bill Cosby’s lawyers pressed a judge Tuesday to keep the comedian’s
damaging deposition in a decade-old lawsuit out of his sexual assault trial,
saying he agreed to answer questions after being assured he wouldn’t
be charged with a crime. (Nov. 1)
The Buzz: Cliff Huxtable Is Not a Rapist
THE CENTRAL QUESTION IN THE BILL COSBY CRIMINAL CASE
Off The Hook! Bill Cosby’s Wife Gets Deposition Postponed
Bill Cosby Won’t Be Charged in Two Sexual Assault Cases
Bill Cosby Gives First Interview About Allegations in Two Years: Racism ‘May Very Well’ Be a Factor
Bill Cosby’s Daughter Defends Him, Calls Rape Allegations ‘Harsh & Hurtful’
What is the Spousal Privilege?
Mother of Bill Cosby accuser Jennifer Thompson sends letter to comedian’s wife Camille Cosby
LAPD to search Hugh Hefner’s estate during Bill Cosby sexual assault investigation
No, Mrs Mugabe, I am not responsible for my rape.
Bill Cosby arraigned; TV star’s attorneys vow to fight ‘unjustified’ charge
Bill Cosby Look-Alike: “My Life Sucks Now”
We must abandon Bill Cosby: A broken trust with women, black America
What Bill Cosby’s Fall Says About the New Age of Television
Bill Cosby rape allegations explained: Why are these allegations coming out now? And why has nobody taken legal action?
Bill Cosby Thinks Sexual Assault Allegations May Be Rooted in Racism, Does Not Plan to Testify Against Andrea Constand
Convicted Killer of Ennis Cosby Confesses
I Warned You About Bill Cosby in 2007
The public may be waking up to the mountain of rape allegations now, but women were coming forward years ago to warn that the Jell-O Man was not so sweet.
Bill Cosby’s Untold Story: Agony, Ambition and a Son’s Tragic Murder
Murder of Ennis Cosby
Can Respect Mute Media’s Frenzy in Cosby Slaying?
January 17, 1997|HOWARD ROSENBERG
Bill Cosby’s secret messages disclosed MKULTRA ‘Rape Demon’ redux
THE MURDER OF ENNIS COSBY
Cosby Show, Boule’ and the News: The Cause for Killing Off Cos
What did Bill Cosby do to piss someone off in Hollywood?

Category:

allegation, Andrea Constand, Camille Cosby, Court case, Dr. Huxtable, Hollywood, House of Fraser, NBC, news, Philadelphia Daily News, Television, The Cosby show, trial

NB COMMENTARY "Missouri carries out eighth execution this year after rejecting concerns over ‘inhumane’ sedative"

Missouri carries out eighth execution this year after rejecting concerns over ‘inhumane’ sedative

EXCERPT: “Johnny Sutton, the lead prosecutor at Trottie’s trial, said …………………….‘He hunted them down,’ Sutton said. ‘The self-defense claim is absolutely ridiculous. He kicked in their door. … They already were worried about him. He was making threats and trying to run her off the road.‘This one was so cold and calculated.’ 


NB COMMENTARY

I fail to understand how one type of murder is better than another type of murder. For example, if I planned to kill someone after a 20 year stay locked up in my basement, would that not be considered per-meditated murder?

How any of this “killing” makes any sense, is beyond me. 
Killing another person who killed another person does not bring that person back, nor can the latter go and get them and bring them back. It’s a total waste of time and resources.

I also wonder about the so called “witnesses”. Aren’t they complicit in this murder? No they didn’t pull the trigger, but weren’t they at the scene of the crime? How many people have been arrested and jailed for just being there?

I wonder about the mental stability of this entire system that condones, implements and financially supports this type of murder, that is blatant and cold, and out in the open with no question of who done it. Yet others are arrested, tried and convicted, sometimes even wrongfully and given the death penalty.

What a backwards psychology!

How does the person who administers the punishment sleep at night without nightmares and visits in the dream world from the person they just killed. Yet, this society wishes that the so-called convict sleep restlessly forever, with no peace in their lives ever.

And, quiet as it’s kept, the so-called criminal given the death penalty has friends, family and loved ones too. What makes their pain of the loss of their loved one less than the loss of the family who feels so right in killing the criminal who killed their mother, brother, sister, father or friend??

These and other questions plague my mind as I watch the way the human beings treat each other. And in this case, they are actually conversing, debating and fighting over which way to kill someone is more humane.  I am not sure what the DSM-IV would diagnose this condition of the mind as, but it is certainly a pervasive mental illness.
 

A Missouri inmate became the eight was put to death in the early hours of this morning for the killing of two people during a restaurant robbery in 1998.
Earl Ringo Jr., 40, was executed at 12:22am by lethal injection after a plea for a stay of execution – based on irregularities in the use of lethal injection drugs in the state – was refused.
Ringo’s last words came from the Quran and expressed belief and wishes for after death. He wiggled his feet as the process began, breathed deeply a few times, then closed his eyes, all in a matter of seconds.

Earl Ringo Jr., 40, was executed today for the killing of two people during a restaurant robbery in 1998
He had declined to request a last meal, eating instead the Salisbury steak and macaroni and cheese offered to other inmates.
In the early hours of July 4, 1998, Ringo and an accomplice killed delivery driver Dennis Poyser and manager trainee JoAnna Baysinger at a Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Columbia.
Both victims were shot dead at point-blank range.
The run-up to Ringo’s execution was shrouded by controversy, as Missouri continues to use the sedative, midazolam, despite claims that the pre-execution drug is inhumane.
Earlier this year in Ohio, Oklahoma and Arizona.
In April, gruesome scenes accompanied the execution of Clayton Lockett, a murderer and rapist who shot his 19-year-old victim and ordered a friend to bury her alive.
It was a full 43 minutes after the drug was administered in the Oklahoma execution chamber that the convicted killer died. During this time, Lockett thrashed violently, lurching forward against his restraints, writhing and attempting to speak.
Willie Trottie, who turned 45 Monday, shot and killed 24-year-old Barbara Canada, and her brother, Titus
Willie Trottie,
who turned 45 Monday,
shot and killed 24-year-old
Barbara Canada,
and her brother, Titus

Witnesses described his body twisting, and his head reaching up from the gurney, before the curtains were drawn around the chamber obscuring Lockett’s final minutes from public view.
In January, convicted murderer and rapist Dennis McGuire appeared to gurgle, gasp for air and convulse for around 10 minutes after being sentenced to death using an experimental two-drug concoction including midazolam. 
Chilling scenes also occurred in the Arizona execution chamber in July, when Joseph Rudolph Wood took nearly two hours to die from the lethal injection. 
Witnesses told how the murderer appeared to be struggling to breathe after the sedation and then gasped desperately for breath at least 600 times before falling still. 
Ringo’s attorneys had argued that the drug could dull his senses and leave him unable to express any pain or suffering during the process.
They had asked a federal appeals court to postpone the execution until a hearing over Missouri’s use of midazolam. 
Attorney Richard Sindel claimed that Missouri’s use of midazolam essentially violates its own protocol, which provides for pentobarbital as the lone execution drug. But the courts and Gov. Jay Nixon had refused to halt Ringo’s execution over the concerns.
The Missouri Department of Corrections says it administers midazolam before executions and not as part of its execution protocol.
‘It should not be lost in the national debate over the death penalty that Earl Ringo Jr. was responsible for the murders of two innocent Missourians. For 16 years he avoided payment for this crime. Tonight he has paid the penalty,’ Missouri’s Attorney General, Chris Koster, said in a statement.
A clemency petition to Nixon had also cited concerns about the fact that Ringo was convicted and sentenced to death by an all-white jury.
Ringo was sentenced to death by lethal injection (file picture).  His execution is the eighth in Missouri this year

Ringo was sentenced to death by lethal injection (file picture).  His execution is the eighth in Missouri this year
Murderer Joseph Rudolph Wood took nearly two hours to die
Convicted murderer and rapist Dennis McGuire
Chilling scenes accompanied the executions of Joseph Rudolph Wood, left, Dennis McGuire, centre and Clayton Lockett, right, who were all administered the pre-execution sedative midazolam
On July 3, 1998, Ringo told his accomplice Quentin Jones about his plan to rob the Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Columbia, where he once worked. Jones agreed to join him.
Before sunrise on July 4, Ringo and Jones hid behind a grease pit in the back of the restaurant. Poyser and Baysinger arrived and entered the restaurant. Ringo followed them and shot Poyser, 45, killing him instantly.
He then ordered Baysinger, 22, to open a safe. She pulled out $1,400 and gave it to him.
Ringo gave the gun to Jones, who stood with the weapon pointed at Baysinger’s head for a minute and a half before pulling the trigger.
Interviews with restaurant workers and former workers led police to Ringo. Detectives found a blue ski mask, gun receipt, bulletproof vest and other evidence at the home of his mother.

THE CASE OF WILLIAM HAPP

Happ - who raped and killed Angie Crowley, 21, in 1986 - died by lethal injection in 2013
Happ – who raped and killed Angie Crowley, 21, in 1986 – died by lethal injection in 2013
William Happ, 51, was the first death row inmate to be injected with midazolam hydrochloride.
The execution began at 6.02pm at Florida State Prison. Happ’s eyes opened and he blinked several times.
He closed and opened them again two minutes later. He then yawned and his jaw dropped open.
At 6.08pm, the official overseeing the execution tugged at Happ’s eyelids and grasped his shoulder to check for a response. There was none.
A minute later, Happ’s head began moving back and forth and shortly thereafter his breathing stopped. 
He was pronounced dead at 6.16pm.
Ringo admitted to the robbery but claimed the shootings were in self-defense. He was convicted in 1999 and sentenced to death.
Jones, of Louisville, Kentucky, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison, but he was spared the death penalty when he agreed to testify against Ringo.
Jama Brown, who was married for to Poyser for 24 years, asked that people remember the victims.
‘I can only tell you there is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of him or wonder what my life would be like today, not only for myself, but for my kids,’ she said. 
In a statement she added: ‘Please do not make this about how executions shouldn’t take place. Put your effort on how we can stop people from committing these terrible actions.
‘Please remember these two wonderful people who just wanted to go to work on the Fourth of July to support their families.’
Ringo’s execution is the eighth in the state this year and the tenth since November.
St. Louis Public Radio reported last week that Missouri administered midazolam to all nine inmates put to death since November. Corrections department spokesman David Owen said midazolam ‘is used to relieve the offender’s level of anxiety’ and is not part of the actual execution process.
The execution was one of two scheduled for today in the U.S. This afternoon Texas plans to execute Willie Trottie for killing his common-law wife and her brother in 1993.
Trottie’s execution will be Texas’ eighth this year. Florida has performed seven executions in 2014, and all other states have a combined six.
Both Missouri and Texas use pentobarbital as their execution drug but decline to disclose where the drug is obtained.
‘They don’t tell you what it is and where it comes from,’ Trottie told The Associated Press. ‘What I’ve learned in 20 years here on death row is all you can do is say, ‘OK.’
‘I’m ready whichever way it goes. If God says, ‘Yes,’ I’m ready.’
Trottie, who turned 45 Monday, shot and killed 24-year-old Barbara Canada, and her 28-year-old brother, Titus, at the Canada family home in Houston. Canada’s mother and sister were also wounded.
Lawyers for Trottie argued in their appeal that the one-time deliveryman and security guard suffered poor representation in his initial trial. 
They said his counsel failed to present witnesses who would have told jurors Trottie and Barbara Canada were romantically engaged at the time of the killings. Late Monday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the appeal.
Trottie said he and Barbara Canada were on ‘good terms’ despite an on-again, off-again relationship. Trottie said he was defending himself against Titus Canada, who shot first. He said the shooting of his wife was accidental.
‘It wasn’t like I just walked in there and gunned her down,’ he said.
Johnny Sutton, the lead prosecutor at Trottie’s trial, said evidence showed that’s exactly what happened.
‘He hunted them down,’ Sutton said. ‘The self-defense claim is absolutely ridiculous. He kicked in their door. … They already were worried about him. He was making threats and trying to run her off the road.
‘This one was so cold and calculated.’ 

Category:

confinement, criminal, death penalty, death row, execution, extreme, governor, jail, jury, justice, law, order, prison, prison industrial complex, prosecutor, psychosis, trial, warden