pgnewarkboy - have you read the detailed accounts of each woman's experience in the Cosby case?
There is nothing "consensual" about using date rape drugs, and having sex with a 15 year old.
How about if tonight over dinner, your wife reveals that she was sexually assaulted years ago, and never told anyone. Are you going to say all the things to her, that you just posted here?
My comment had nothing to do with the Cosby case or date rape drugs. It had to do with,your statement that in general a woman's sexual history is always admitted in a rape case. That statement, was incorrect. So, the conversation was at that point getting generalized beyond the Cosby case. As I said in my original post, I don't know if the claims against Cosby are true or not. That means they might be true. I don't know. The public might learn more from two pending lawsuits one filed by an alleged Cosby victim and the other filed by Cosby. To the extent that the LA Prosecutors office is actually investigating some or many of these matters it may shed actual light on what happened. I have no interest in defending Cosby. I am interested in development of the facts.
As an experienced litigator I have had read, taken, and tested many statements over a very long career. Many, means easily over several thousand. In the legal system, only a fool would take any statement at face value no matter who gives one. Human beings are complex. Finding the truth is not always easy.
Women have been and still are often treated in ways that are unfair, unjust, sometimes inhumane. It is impossible to categorize all the ways that the life of women in our country has been difficult. All women suffered when they didn't have the vote. Some or many women suffer from other outrages large and small. Women were not even permitted on juries at one time. The laws and the courts started to make certain behaviors against women illegal that should never have been permissible. Great strides have been made in the area of equal treatment of women. More needs to be done.
The concept of equal treatment under the law needs to be applied to all people. If the principle of equal treatment under the law is not applied to all it becomes a hollow mantra. That includes men and women who have been charged with rape and other crimes. An individual is free to think as they wish until they sit in the jury box and are then required to render a verdict in accordance with the law. Every juror should sit on a jury with an open mind. They should be willing to overcome preconceived notions. In fact, the following is a version of a common question asked of jurors when they sit in a high publicity case. "Despite what you have read or heard about this case can you keep and open mind and render a fair verdict without prior prejudice'. That is the GOAL of the legal system. It is not the goal of the media.
