world for everybody. as well as this has been painful, it s been powerful. and i m excited to be a part of all the fabulous women that i ve met. and how we ve stood strong, and bonded together. and how it s brought others to bond together, to stand up for themselves, also. mark, thank you for sitting by, patiently. i want to bring you in, now. one thing the pennsylvania supreme court makes clear is that there can be no third cosby trial. the court says that the remedy here is to bar any-further prosecution of cosby in the andrea constand case. so, what is your message, tonight? well, thank you, don, for having me on. i would like to point out, as you pointed out at the top of the hour, that the supreme court of pennsylvania did not determine that mr. cosby is innocent. it did not determine that mr. cosby did not commit this act
against andrea constand. or against any of the other accusers. the court ruled on a procedural ground, that the state of pennsylvania is bound by the decision of a former prosecutor not to prosecute. and the court reasoned that mr. cosby relied, to his detriment, on the public statements of that prosecutor, that he would not prosecute. and that, mr. cosby, therefore, testified in civil cases, in a manner that incriminated himself. and so, the court held that it would be an injustice and a and a violation of his due-process rights to prosecute him, at this point. but that doesn t say anything about whether he s guilty or innocent. and i think that s an important fact for everyone to understand. um, the silver lining, in my opinion, about this this
bill cosby, a free man tonight. released from prison after a stunning decision by pennsylvania s supreme court overturning his sexual-assault conviction. ruling his due-process rights were violated. back with me, now, cosby accusers, joan tarshis and, also, chelan lasha. mark strucker is with us, as well. he is ms. lasha s attorney. so, again, it s good to have all of you on. um, chelan, let me start with you. i am thinking back to that powerful new york magazine cover featuring 35 cosby accusers. do you remember that cover? yes. so, what do you what does today mean for women in other cases coming out, speaking out in the future? i think that we opened the
disappointing decision is that there are a number of civil cases that have been on hold, while criminal charges were pending against mr. cosby. including, during this time that the criminal charges the criminal conviction was on appeal. and i believe that there is no more reason to keep those civil cases on hold, anymore, because mr. cosby is now not facing criminal charges. let me ask you, mark. mark. do you think that it makes the the the civil cases harder or easier to prove? because, in the they can always say, look, my client was, you know, let out of prison. or was convicted, wrongfully. therefore, none of it stands. no one has said that he s listen. i know that you are saying that it doesn t say that cosby is not guilty or innocent, however the court decides. but also, can you say that he is that he has been proven, in a court of law, at this point? well, he s he he was
former-federal prosecutor, by the way. laura, thank you very much. um, explain this to us. supreme court came to this decision saying that bill cosby they didn t say that he was innocent? no, they didn t. in fact, they never really reached no, they did not. they didn t reach that conclusion, at all. they didn t say they thought he should be acquitted. they said this trial never should have gone on because there was an earlier agreement not to prosecute. and that, earlier prosecutor, bruce castor, he didn t make it in his own, personal capacity. he, essentially, foreclosed it because he was doing it on behalf of the commonwealth of pennsylvania. and in doing so, it was the government that agreed not to prosecute bill cosby. and the court found that the later prosecutor could not simply undo what the government already agreed not to do because bill cosby had relied, to his detriment, and actually made statements that they were able to use as incriminating against him, later. it is