PENNSYLVANIA
New York Times
By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
APRIL 26, 2018
The trial of Bill Cosby provides what social scientists might call a natural experiment. In the spring of 2017, a jury could not agree on whether Mr. Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted Andrea Constand, setting the stage for a retrial.
But between that trial and this one came the revelations over Harvey Weinstein and a cascade of other powerful men that invigorated the #MeToo movement. The big question: would it make any difference?
It well may have. The jury deliberated not even two days — compared with six days the first time around — before finding Mr. Cosby guilty on all counts.
There were other key differences: Jurors saw a new defense witness, who testified that Ms. Constand had said it would be easy to use fabricated abuse claims to extort a celebrity.
And they saw more evidence of a pattern of predatory behavior that extended beyond Ms. Constand: The judge allowed five of Mr. Cosby’s more than 50 accusers to testify, compared with one at the first trial. But some have suggested that the judge’s decision was also a response to shifting social views after #MeToo.
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