More than a dozen unrelated women claim that Bill Cosby raped them. Some of them have come out publicly, using their own names and granting interviews. Earlier this week, Barbara Bowman wrote for The Washington Post, reminding us that she has said publicly since 2004 that Mr. Cosby raped her in the 1980s, when she was just 17 years old and a struggling young actress.
Bowman’s story is consistent with other women who have said that Mr. Cosby pretended to give them benign cold or herbal medication, but instead heavily sedated and then sexually assaulted them. Joan Tarshis says Mr. Cosby twice drugged and raped her in 1969, when she was 19 years old. Andrea Constant sued Mr. Cosby for rape in 2004, and promised to include testimony in her case from thirteen other unnamed women who she claimed were also sexually assaulted by Mr. Cosby. The case settled on confidential terms in 2006, without a single witness being called, as far as I can tell.
Mr. Cosby has never been criminally indicted for sexual assault, much less convicted. He denies the allegations. What are we to make of this?
As a litigator who has handled many cases of rape, battery and child sexual abuse for decades, here’s my assessment:
1. The more accusations, the more likely the charges are true
The more accusations from different accusers, the more likely the charges are true, especially when the facts are so similar.
No doubt there is strength in numbers. Against a beloved, wealthy and powerful celebrity like Cosby, few would dare come forward. That thirteen have is extraordinary. It seems highly improbable that that many women would lie, especially when most of them stand to gain nothing from it – certainly no money. Just the misery of having the media hound them and pore over the details of their lives, trying to discredit them.
The fact that statutes of limitations have run out on Ms. Bowman’s criminal and civil cases means she has nothing to gain from speaking out now. She is not promoting a book or film. She initially came forward a decade ago to support other women. Other Cosby accusers seem to be acting out of that same motive: solidarity. All of these facts have an aura of credibility.
2. We can never know for sure
And yet: without the justice system putting witnesses on the stand and scrutinizing the evidence, we can never know for sure if the charges are true.
Our criminal justice system has its flaws, which I often speak and write about. But it also has a few shining hallmarks like the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt and the rule that all witnesses be subjected to cross-examination.
Most people can speak fairly convincingly when they are allowed to talk in a narrative, unspooling their story in their own way to a friendly questioner, like a media interviewer or their own lawyer in a consultation. But when confronted under oath by a skilled litigator and presented with evidence that may be inconsistent with their story, allegations sometimes fall apart.
This happens in American courtrooms every day in every kind of case. But it has never happened in any rape case against Bill Cosby. None of his accusers have been cross-examined, and neither has he. Although under ingratiatingly friendly questions from an NPR interviewer a few days ago, Mr. Cosby’s silence on the rape questions may speak volumes.
Without the crucible of cross-examination, we cannot get at the truth of what went on behind closed doors, where there were apparently no other witnesses nor any hard evidence collected from the scenes.
3. For victims of sexual assault, our system is broken
When it comes to rape, our system is broken. We are told not to trust it, and we don’t.
What galls me is Ms. Bowman’s recounting of how she told her agent and even a lawyer that she had been drugged and raped by Mr. Cosby, and she was shushed and told not to report it. As usual, powerful forces circled their wagons against a powerful man, and his alleged victim was swept away.
Anyone who tells a girl not to report a rape is a co-conspirator to that predator’s next crime. Sexual predators tend to repeat their crimes, emboldened by their lack of accountability. Victims should be supported through every step of the process, not discouraged from going to the police.
I have a different approach to rape cases we handle in my law firm. We empower our clients, require them to have family, psychotherapists and friends as their support system, and walk them through what they can expect from the system. I believe if they can survive rape, they can definitely survive talking about it. Many discover that the experience of standing up to their rapist, while scary, is a transformative, healthy experience. They literally stand taller, speak more forcefully, and come into their own.
Every sexual assault victim deserves police who take her seriously, a prosecutor who gathers evidence and supports her, and lawyers who treat her with respect. Yet time after time I hear of just the opposite.
In New Orleans, police have ignored rape cases for years, failing to take rape reports, failing to gather evidence, generally just shrugging off rape complaints as unworthy of their time. Elsewhere rape kits sit on evidence shelves, unprocessed, as rapists go free and victims suffer. No wonder many women do not report sexual assault at all. And yet we must, to protect other women.
If Mr. Cosby’s accusers are telling the truth, they deserved accountability years ago. Our failure to support rape victims leaves them decades later having failed to obtain a criminal conviction. Speaking out to the media is now the only option they have left. And it’s a poor substitute for justice.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Avvo.
Photo: Shutterstock
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26 comments
Geroge
The system can be very broken.
A friend of mine was recently arrested and lost his teaching job because a girl accused him of "innapropriate touching"
Ironically, there is zero evidence, and the man is the pinnacle of normal (no record, does volunteer work, been a teacher for 40 years).
The best part is that he has fought illness for years where in his sexual drive has been basically destroyed and is non-existent. He also prescribed many drugs that destroy sexual libido.
All it took was the girl to say "he did it!" and his life was destroyed. There may be a lot of rape victims who go without justice, but the entire system is broken in that people are crucified and their lives destroyed based on heresay.
I mean, look how many people believe what is being said, just because it was said!!
jack sprat
Theodore Taylor, as to your first point, there is an alternative to the usual and most likely motive for what Cosby is alleged to have done. It's that he might have a fetish for drugging and observing and/or molesting and/or raping the women whom he's rendered helpless. This is both a not entirely uncommon fantasy and a fetish that's been enacted in RL, both in role play and in criminal acts. It's more or less what Peter Bogdanovich was allegedly attempting to accomplish, albeit with an inferior regimen of drugs.
jack sprat
Lisa, clarify something for me, if you will. Did this pattern exist, on the record, BEFORE it began to trickle out now? It's not only 45-yr old racist so-called "eyewitnesses" in Ferguson who can and do lie, basing their lies on published accounts in the media, after all.
Just as, in the Ferguson case, Mike Brown's running buddy likewise admitted to "embellishing" his own testimony, when he realized, while watching another news report, that certain elements of his earlier testimony couldn't possibly be true.
(By the by, I must have missed your mention of that incident, which wasn't the only one among witnesses who objected to Wilson's version of events. There were lots of axes being sharpened in Missouri; while I'm at a loss as to what, other than truth and an outraged sense of justice, might motivate so many witnesses against Cosby, other than an animus similar to whatever was operating in Salem, MA, back in the day, I've only recently watched too many lemmings flock to too many cliff's-sides to discount it in all of their cases.)
likeucare
How is it credible that accusers stories are similar when the details are being printed by every media outlet?I have seen zero examples of the media trying to discredit the accusers. The incentives for accusing Cosby are obvious tv interviews,sympathy and attention I general just to name a few. I do not know if these allegations are true, but by constantly printing heresy the media lost all credibility long ago. Of course you are really all just bloggers now aren't you?
Lisa
Right, thirteen women have come forward saying that Cosby gave them drinks, with a drug in them and then raped them and there is nothing to the allegations! Here is to the woman that made a comment 2 comments back (I tried to reply to), I do not think many people would pay attention to your comment when you did not spell correctly thru the whole thing!
Theodore Taylor
There is evidence on both sides, but this writer isn't exactly nonbiased. While it is true that rape is hard to prove, and that rape victims tend to be silent for long periods of time, there are three strong evidences in Bill Cosby's innocence.
1: Most people don't steal free stuff. Why would you commit a crime to get something already at your fingertips? Someone as famous as Bill Cosby could have had women lined up. Why should he struggle and commit a crime over six when he could take his pick of the world? Only someone with some kind of mental illness would run that kind of risk.
2: Too long. Stuff like this coming out two or three years after, sure. I'll believe that. Rape is traumatic, and victims don't want to speak out against someone who they know (or a public figure, in this case). But decades? Seriously? Anyone who hides this kind of information for over ten years isn't going to suddenly grow a spine and speak up. I smell a bribe, or some other factor that would cause decades - old ghosts to suddenly gain life.
3 - Means, Motive, Opportunity. These are three areas in which culpability for an offense could be categorized. There are some (current administration *cough*) who have plenty of motive for silencing Cosby. They have the means, and many ready friends in the Media to propagate a smear campaign. They have had eons of opportunity. It is not a stretch of logic to consider this, there is as much evidence for a conspiracy as for Cosby's guilt.
I'm not saying he's innocent. Not at all. I'm just saying that he is equally likely to be guilty or innocent, and I - for one- don't want people prosecuted and condemned on "maybes".
Lindamae
We are looking at two issues. First is the justice system which continues to help women speak out. Second is the era some of the accusations are claimed. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll! Free Love! Sound familiar? Wife swapping? These are reflective of the sexual mores of Cosby's career. He didn't need to drug women to have his wicked way with them. His star power made him prey. Look at Clinton, JFK, for example. Both had very active sex lives..Look at Letterman! Some women seek out adventure. In rodeo, they are called buckle bunnies. Don't know the term for comics, groupies? That's rock and roll! Who knows what happened. What mother would allow her 15 year old to fly to see a star? One woman interviewed by Don Lemon said it perfectly when he asked why she didn't bite the comedian. She replied that she was too stoned to remember. Perhaps Cosby was a scum dog..but living in the free times years ago, he didn't needto drug a woman to have sex.
Tim
jimmycrackcorn....... Wouldn't want you on a jury. You lack the common sense to want proof since you believe in accusation only. You're no better than the rest of them and you believe that democrats don't lie to get your vote.
Tim
In one respect it is sad to hear this. On another, what was your reason that you didn't want to have sex with your husband? Do most women have a problem with sex with their husbands?
Tim
Can't edit your comments. Meant to say that Cosby was against the so called 'black leadership' regarding the destruction liberalism has had on the black family.
Tim
Recently, Bill was a voice against how the black family has been destroyed by liberalism. I'm sure someone is out to get him by bringing up accusations that can't be proven. Writers like this woman, while she says you can't prove the accusations, they are probably true because there are so many who have magically stepped into the spotlight.
Bigwheel
I want to know one thing!
How did 13 women put themselves in compromising positions with Mr. Cosby- WHY WERE THEY IN HIS ROOM????? Some spending the night!!!!
danette Leigh Webb Williams
I am going through a divorce right now, my squeaky clean husband, soft spoken, helpful, friendly, professional. Raped me. Police noticed brusing on my upper theighs asked me about it, and i denied a problem. Now i regret it. When you are in shock, denial, sadness, disbelief....whatever. the old addage " you cant see the forest for the trees" applies. It has taken me a year to get healthy enough to gain the emotional, and mental strength to admit to myself that he would do that to me. All im saying is give them the benifit of the doubt. If its untrue, it will be easy enough to prove.
Tony William
Bill Cosby has been accuse and judge also condemn by the media. Strip of rights to earn a living although he don't need money. Theses women had won their. Who knows how much money they getting? That's a mystery. No court room justice. A media lynch mob. No evidence against the accuse. Just someone word that has destroy a man persona. It remind me in the old south when a white woman cry rape by a black man that black man is gonna did of what that white said. Same situation happen to Bill Cosby but this time the white lynch mob is the white media.
Martina
I guess some of you have never been raped. Sometimes, there is no proof. That doesn't make it any less true. Half of the comments on this article ARE the reason most women/men don't come forward when they've been sexually assaulted - No one believes it.
jason b
One more thing I'd like to add. I think rape is one of the more serious, abhorrent crimes. If you witness a big person beating a small person to a pulp, then that would be abhorrent. Usually, it's the use of power, physical, status, mental, psychological, over another's will. It could be something surreptitious in the form of a pill in a drink.
jason b
Just because you claim "hearsay" doesn't mean it's not inadmissible in court. Just claiming hearsay isn't a defense. Let the judge sort that out in this case if the accusers bring it to trial. One of the difficulties of proving rape is that the victim is reluctant due to being a victim of a violent crime and a crime that makes them feel shameful. They do not file a police report even though they may have been interviewed. With the amount of witnesses coming forward now, it calls for further investigation. Bill Cosby is getting dropped now and neither he nor his lawyer have come out to defend themselves. I think they'll be forced to do that in the media now that this has gone worldwide.
Jason f
Even though there are so many accusers coming forward they have absolutely no proof. I will not judge a man based on hersay. It's sick what the media can do to someone who hasn't even been given a chance to fight this because the allegations are so old. People like that I despise and hope go to jail one day for something similar by lying to the courts.
zardac
I can understand the reluctance to come forward with allegations implicating beloved figures such as Bill Crosby, Mr. Rogers, or Barney the Dinosaur.
I want to believe that someone presenting a warm and caring persona is genuine, rather than a cold and calculating malefactor who's pulled the wool over my eyes.
Nevertheless, I've worked with convicted sexual offenders, and many of them- although bereft of professional acting experience- consistently present as warm and caring individuals.
The dogged consistency of these accounts, the long history, and the power differential between victim(s) and alleged perpetrator... are troubling.
Christopher
Has anyone stopped to think about how influential a man like Bill Cosby has been for American conservatives? Now, stop to consider what could happen if the new television shows that Cosby was to be involved in were smash successes. He would be thrust back into the spotlight as a very influential conservative voice from the black community. Now, take a moment to reflect on what just happened in the mid term elections. How hard is to imagine a smear campaign to keep this man from becoming a voice for the right as we come into the election cycle for the 2016 presidential campaign? I don't see one ounce of actual evidence against this man other than the fact that a number of women share a similar story. How difficult would it be for people to plan such a campaign against Cosby and then make it appear that the women are not in any way connected to each other? Believe me, Hollywood is a VERY vindictive place. Cosby long ago made it clear that he was not a liberal or willing to support the continued degradation of African Americans that appears in so much of American culture. They HATE him for speaking out against the systemic destruction of the black family and black culture and would love nothing more than to silence him for good. They believe that if you repeat an unfounded and unproven lie enough, people will believe it. Provide actual proof or stop this vicious personal attack.
Kat
Rape victims often feel embarrassed & ashamed. Young victims of older perpetrators think no one will believe them. Thirteen women all these years later who cannot get justice & have nothing to gain? I think Bill Cosby exploited them & is a bad, bad man.
jimmy crackcorn
Cosby is a creepy dude...i believe every word of the accusations. .and if 13 came forward then ole Bill has raped over 100 easy. Hope they hang him least in the media
kelly
I don't understand how anyone could get raped twice by the same person. The second time I would have a pair of scissors ready for the guy. I'm usually completely on the woman's side but to go to a man's house or hotel, get drunk and spend the night, take unjustified drugs, even spend time or date him afterwards, then twenty years later say he raped you just is not sensible.if they did get raped they should have gone to the police, the next morning.I don't even like Bill Cosby but these reports are just bizarre and take away other rape victim's credibility.
Anonymous
"Every sexual assault victim deserves police who take her seriously, a prosecutor who gathers evidence and supports her, and lawyers who treat her with respect. Yet time after time I hear of just the opposite."
Watch the word her! Guys can be victims of sexual assault too.
Bob Shuttleworth
Why would 13 women, who apparently don't know each other make such claimes after all of this time?
I have been a fan of Bill Cosby since the 1960's, and am shocked at the allegations. But then, they are just that, - allegations. If they are tru, then Mr. Cosby has a lot to answer for. If not, then a number of women have suddenly sought public attention by using this ruse.
The one alleged victim was an "aspiring actress". It it not just as possible that she holds ill feelings towards Cosby for not giving her her "Big Break" ?
And is another dozen copycats that hard to believe? In this day and age of cyber bullying I don't think so. First we would need to have some confirmation that any relationship, sexual or casual, or professional, ever existed.
Or perhaps, not unlike other celebrities (Tiger Woods comes to mind) these were star struck young girls who wanted to "get it on" with a celebrity, (There are those types of groupies out there.) and now they are trying to let the world know of their "Achievement" O
Or, perhaps Mr. Cosby is 100% guilty of these accusations. I, for one, believe in the American system of Innocent until proven guilty. Until Mr Cosby is proven guilty, I will reserve judgement.
Laura
Anything is possible, but why wait until now to tell your story of an alleged rape?
Until there is actual proof, I stand behind Bill Cosby.