• Melon [she/her,they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Cosby went through a civil case in which he was compelled to testify. It was not a criminal case, so his 5th Amendment right to silence did not apply. His testimony in the civil case included lots of illegal things.

    This testimony was then used to incriminate Cosby in the case that landed him in prison. The use of the testimony has now been determined to be a violation of the 5th Amendment as Cosby had no opportunity to avoid self-incrimination in the civil case.

    Of course, there were piles of other evidence that was submitted against Cosby in the criminal case. The civil testimony wasn't critical to get him locked up, but this is yet another example of how rich people have it easy in the legal system. Nobody poorer than Cosby could ever grab that needle in a haystack and successfully appeal.