Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has extended the state of emergency for another three months. The extension followed weekend ceremonies to commemorate the first anniversary of the failed military coup in which around 250 people, mostly unarmed civilians, were killed. Anniversary celebrations came a week after the leader of the main opposition, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, ended a nearly 280-mile “March for Justice” from Ankara to Istanbul by holding a rally attended by more than a million people calling for an end to emergency rule and injustice.
President Erdogan vowed to continue the brutal crackdown against activists, journalists, teachers and opposition lawmakers. He also called for the reinstatement of the death penalty in Turkey. Since emergency rule was imposed on July 20 last year, more than 50,000 people have been arrested and 150,000 people have been suspended in a crackdown which Erdogan’s opponents say has pushed Turkey on a path to greater authoritarianism.
Speaking at parliament, Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli said the emergency rule had helped created the necessary legal environment to cleanse the state of Gulen’s network. The Turkish government says it is necessary to root out supporters of the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen who is believed to be behind the coup attempt. Gulen has denied any involvement.
Since the failed coup where Turkish military forces tried to overthrow the government, the Turkish government has taken what some say are controversial steps to strengthen its power. In March, the Jurist Report was published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The report describes a plethora of human rights violations committed by the Turkish government between July 2015 and December 2016.
The same month the report was published, around 330 individuals were put on trial for alleged involvement in an attempted coup. In November Turkey significantly restricted the activities of NGOs like human rights organizations and children’s groups and arrested opposition party leaders alleging they were connected to terror organizations. Earlier this month the Turkish Parliament elected seven new members to the country’s 13-member Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) in an overnight vote.
Ten human rights activists, including Amnesty International Turkey director Idil Eser, were in court to face terrorism related charges. The targeting of human rights defenders and similar earlier crackdowns on lawyers and associations raises the question of who will be left to defend the tens of thousands of people caught up in the post-coup purge.
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Sixteen service members were killed after a military transport plane that was being used on a training flight crashed in Mississippi, prompting an urgent rescue effort in one of the South’s most rural regions, the authorities said. A Marine Corps spokeswoman at the Pentagon, Capt. Sarah Burns, said that one of the service’s KC-130 aircraft had “experienced a mishap.” The Marines use KC-130s for aerial refueling.
The cause of the crash, in an unincorporated part of Leflore County, was not immediately clear. The plane crashed along County Road 547, a dirt road that connects acres of farmland between Itta Bena and Moorhead. Military aircraft are a common sight in the skies of rural Mississippi. Witnesses described the plane as disintegrating in the air as it neared the ground, leaving a debris field about five miles in diameter. Many speculate that the plane experienced an explosion mid-air because of the large debris field.
The air tanker was based at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York, and was on its way from a Marine installation at Cherry Point, North Carolina, to a naval air field at El Centro, California, when it went down, officials said. The planes final destination was Yuma, AZ. The plane vanished from air traffic control radar somewhere over Mississippi before the crash that killed all fifteen marines and a navy corpsman on board.
Six of the Marines and the sailor were from an elite Marine Raider battalion at Camp Lejeune, N.C.. Nine were based out of Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, N.Y., home of a Marine Aerial Refueling and Transport Squadron. The service members were identified as Cpl. Dan Baldassare, 20; Staff Sgt. Robert Cox; 28, Capt. Sean Elliott; 30, Maj. Caine Goyette; 41, Gunnery Sgt. Mark Hopkins; 34, Sgt. Chad Jenson,; 25, Gunnery Sgt. Brendan Johnson; 46, Sgt. Julian Kevianne; 31, Staff Sgt. William Joseph Kundrat; 33, Sgt. Talon Leach; 27, Sgt. Owen Lennon,; 26, Sgt. Joseph Murray; 26, Cpl. Collin Schaaff; 22, Sgt. Dietrich Schmieman; 26, Staff Sgt. Joshua Snowden; 31 and Navy Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Ryan Lohrey, 30.
Witnesses reported hearing a loud bloom around 4pm and then the plane began spinning down to the ground. Eyewitnesses recall hearing ammunition exploding after the crash. The Marine Corps acknowledged that ammunition was on board the flight without specifying what kind. Due to the presence of the ammunition, restrictions were placed on who could initially approach the scene of the crash, officials said.
The force of the crash nearly flattened the plane and witnesses said there were bodies across a highway, more than a mile from the crash site. Firefighters tried to put out the fire but withdrew after an explosion forced them back. The fierce blaze produced black smoke visible for miles across the flat region and continued to burn after dusk, more than four hours later. The fire department used about 9,000 gallons of foam to extinguish the blaze.
Marine Corps officials are being aided in their investigation by a number of different agencies, including the Mississippi Management Association, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
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The bodies of four young Pennsylvania men who went missing last week have been found. Hours after finding a fourth body buried in a farm here, authorities charged two men with multiple counts of homicide in what authorities said were marijuana deals that turned murderous. Cosmo Dinardo and his cousin Sean Kratz, both 20, were denied bail in preliminary arraignments. Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub announced that the bodies of the young men who went missing last week had been found buried on a farm owned by Dinardo’s parents in Solebury Township.
The victims were identified as 19-year-old Dean Finocchiaro, Mark Sturgis, 22, Tom Meo, 21, who disappeared together and Jimi Tar Patrick, 19. The defense attorney for Cosmo NiNardo, 20, said his client admitted to killing the four in three separate shootings, and told authorities the location of the bodies. DiNardo is ready to plead guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in order to take the death penalty off the table.
Jimi Patrick was the first to go missing and days later- the three other men disappeared. Investigators had focused their search on a property a few miles from the Delaware River, a farm owned by the parents of Cosmo Dinardo, the man who has been identified as a “person of interest” in the case.
Dinardo was initially charged with trying to sell Meo’s car, a 1996 Nissan Maxima and was being held in jail on $5 million cash bail after being deemed a flight risk. Dinardo confessed his involvement in the disappearances, implicated Kratz, and gave information about the location of the fourth victim, police say. Dinardo has a history of unspecified mental illness, and he was previously involuntarily committed to a mental health institution after firing a shotgun, authorities said.
In the arrest affidavit Dinardo told police that on July 5 he agreed to sell four pounds of marijuana for $8,000 to Jimi Patrick. Dinardo picked Patrick up at his home and drove him to the farm but Patrick only had $800, the affidavit states. Dinardo then offered to sell Patrick a shotgun for that amount. Dinardo took Patrick to a remote part of the property and gave him a shotgun. Dinardo then shot and killed Patrick with a .22 caliber rifle and buried his body six feet deep using a backhoe.
Two days later, Dinardo said he and Kratz, decided to rob Dean Finocchiaro during a drug deal. Dinardo told police he gave Kratz his mother’s Smith and Wesson .357 handgun for the robbery. They met at Finocchiaro’s home and went to the farm. Dinardo told police, Kratz shot Finocchiaro near a barn and the put his remains in a metal tank. Kratz’s account of the killing describes Dinardo as the shooter.
Dinardo had a deal in place that same night to sell marijuana to Thomas Meo. Dinardo met Meo and his friend Mark Sturgis and the two followed him to his farm where Kratz was waiting. Dinardo and Kratz described Dinardo shooting Meo in the back and shooting at Sturgis as he tried to flee. According to the police affidavit, Dinardo said after he ran out of ammunition, he drove a backhoe over Meo’s body. Afterwards, they put the bodies in the metal tank, poured gasoline inside and set it on fire. They returned the next day to bury the tank 12 feet deep using a backhoe.
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In an effort to broaden the company’s “social interaction” with our clients and FaceBook fans, Daily Trivia Questions are posted on both of our business pages. Here are the weekly standings for this past week, and the winner of the Sunday night Weekly Drawing for an AmEx gift card!
Congratulations – To this past week’s Trivia Contest Winner!! Our latest contest winner for the weekly FaceBook HealthInsurance4Everyone/Health & Life Solutions, LLC Trivia Contest, drawn randomly by computer late Sunday evening, July 16th, 2017 was:
KARRON REDFIELD
Manchester, CT
Winner Of A $25.00 AmEx Gift Card
Each day, fans of either of our company FaceBook pages (HealthInsurance4Everyone or Health & Life Solutions LLC) are able to test their skills with our Daily TRIVIA QUESTION. The first 20 winners who post the correct answer to the TRIVIA QUESTION, will then get entered into the weekly drawing held late on Sunday evenings for a $25.00 Am Ex Gift. Card
Weekly Gift Card winners will be posted in our blog at this site. Remember to become a FaceBook “fan” on either of our company pages to enter and post your answers.
Here are the daily contestants from last week’s Trivia Contest that were entered into the Sunday drawing:
7/10/17
Jennifer Marie
Christina Domingue
Amanda Rosario
Jane Peterson
Amanda Peters
Diane Hamric
Sarra Baptist
Judy Custer
Kelly Jo Francisco
Chris Maxwell
Jennifer Mason
Tiffany Bank
Karen Goodwin Delaney
Jill Nauyokas
Misty Shallcross
Tabitha Sinks
Jessica Davis
Christy Hawkes
Anggie Marie
Kayla Hernandez
Sheri Boydston
7/11/17
Kelly Jo Francisco
Tabitha Sinks
Isis Sample
Jamie Nash Lewter
Jill Nauyokas
Karen Bondehagen
Cheryl Hall
Jodi Stevens
Amber McGrath
Valerie Kuehn
Sarah Harrison
Dean Bruss
Judy Custer
Teena Sierson
Emily Rice Bowersock
Shameka Barnes
Christy Hawkes
Sheri Boydston
Leslie Wagner Hobson
Kim Avery
7/12/17
Sheri Boydston
Jennifer Mason
Christina Montes
Krissy Brislin
Jane Peterson
Kelly Jo Francisco
Michelle Webb
Kayla Hernandez
Joe Nemeth
Alexandria Fields
Crystal Young
Sherri Kidwell
Jan Lehman
Chrissy Kim
Taschia Miller
Judy Custer
Jennifer Lang
Deborah Farris
Marilyn Wall
Tonya Velazquez
7/13/17
Kelly Jo Francisco
Sheri Boydston
Diane Hamric
Kizzy Alvarez DeSantis
Alisa Jones
Crystal Hazelwood
Kristina Harris
Debbie Burke Garretson
Ashley Stamey Phillips
Sherri Kidwell
Kimberly Snyder
Dean Bruss
Morgan Alexandra
Adaria Johnson
Natasha Berry
Marilyn Wall
Brian Fulop
Zack Sudler
Leslie Wagner Hobson
Kim Avery
Amanda Peters
7/14/17
Isis Sample
Khadijah Carter
Judy Custer
Sherri Kidwell
Kendra George
Bea Patrick
Tina Marie
Anna Ashley Pinder
Candy Dyer
Amanda Peters
Kristina Harris
Jessica Davis
Josh Francisco
Katt Keane
April Ashcraft
Tiffany Green Elliott
Misty Shallcross
Sheri Boydston
Beth Mason
Kizzy Alvarez DeSantis
7/15/17
Kelly Jo Francisco
Peggy Burdick Buchanan
Laura Myers
Amanda Rosario
Sheri Boydston
Diane Hamric
Sherry Lilly
Rebecca Fauteux
Cheryl Hall
Karron Redfield
Jill Nauyokas
Leslie Wagner Hobson
Dean Bruss
Anne Delos Reyes-Villafuerte
Eleazar Ruiz
Tonya Velazquez
Misty Dawn Moores
Danielle Muniz
Trish Musgrave
Adaria Johnson
7/16/17
Kelly Jo Francisco
Sheri Boydston
Sherry Lilly
Rebecca Fauteux
Cheryl Hall
Peggy Burdick Buchanan
Laura Myers
Karron Redfield
Diane Hamric
Leslie Wagner Hobson
Kayla Clemons
Dean Bruss
Jill Nauyokas
Tonya Velazquez
Anne Delos Reyes-Villafuerte
Eleazar Ruiz
Marilyn Wall
Misty Dawn Moores
Trish Musgrave
Amanda Peters
Be sure to watch both of our FaceBook pages for your chance to win and enter again next week, with questions posted daily on HealthInsurance4Everyone or at Health & Life Solutions, LLC!!
Remember that if you try your hand at answering the Trivia Question several days each week, your odds of winning the Sunday weekly drawing are much better. Also note that a number of the posted answers each day are from contestants who have forgotten to “Like” one of our pages, so their names WILL NOT be entered at the end week drawing for the gift card, giving our fans a better chance!
You may also find that if you “Like” both of the business pages, you will receive faster notifications of the other players as they post their answers to compete with you!
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The city of St. Anthony, Minnesota will pay nearly $3 million to the family of Philando Castile to settle a wrongful death lawsuit, less than two weeks after officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted on manslaughter charges for killing Castile during a 2016 traffic stop. Castile, a 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker, was shot five times by Yanez during a traffic stop after Castile told the officer he was armed.
The settlement is to be paid to Castile’s mother Valerie Castile, who is the family’s trustee. The $2.995 million settlement will be paid by the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust, which holds the insurance policy for the city of St. Anthony. The plan for distribution of funds requires approval by a state court.
Attorney Robert Bennett, who is representing Valerie Castile, said a decision was made to move expeditiously rather than have the case drawn out in federal court, a process that would “exacerbate and reopen terrible wounds.” The settlement will also allow the family, the city and community to work toward healing, Bennett said.
The settlement will help benefit the Philando Castile Relief Foundation. Bennett said the foundation’s mission is to provide financial support, grief counseling, scholarships and other help to individuals and families affected by gun violence and police violence.
The Philando Castile Relief Foundation hopes to continue to award an annual $5000 scholarship. Through donations and part of the settlement, organizers hope to establish a permanent endowment to fund the annual $5,000 scholarship. In May, 18-year-old Marques Watson was announced as the first recipient.
Watson intends to study mechanical engineering. He’ll take advantage of a tuition-free offer at St. Paul College this fall and hopes to complete his four-year degree at a historically black college or university. Watson has participated in AVID, a school-based program that prepares underrepresented students for college, since seventh grade. He said he’ll be the first in his extended family to attend college.
Castile’s girlfriend Diamond Reynolds, who witnessed the shooting and posted video seconds after, is not part of the settlement. Reynolds has also hired an attorney, but it’s not clear if she is still planning a lawsuit or has any standing for a federal claim.
A claims manager with the League of Minnesota Cities, said St. Anthony’s insurance coverage is $3 million per occurrence. If Reynolds were to file and win a claim, the city’s remaining $5,000 in coverage would be paid to her and St. Anthony would have to cover any additional money awarded.
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A Tennessee man accused of planning to attack a Muslim community in New York has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Chattanooga’s U.S. District Court convicted Christian minister Robert Doggart, a 65-year-old former engineer at the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The FBI began investigating Doggart in February 2015, when agents became aware of a threatening Facebook post by Doggart in which he wrote that Islamberg needed to be “utterly destroyed.” After an investigation that included wiretaps Doggart was arrested on April 10 by federal marshals and charged with solicitation, intentionally defacing, damaging or destroying religious property and interstate communication of threats, court documents show.
FBI agents discovered Doggart was stockpiling weapons and plotting to travel to upstate New York to kill Muslims using explosives, an M-4 assault rifle and a machete. According to a federal investigation, Doggart saw himself as a religious “warrior” and wanted to kill Muslims to show his commitment to his Christian god.
The investigation showed that he spoke with numerous individuals across the country to plan an attack. Doggart also traveled to South Carolina, where he met with individuals from an unidentified militia group.
Prosecutors said Doggart made threats against Islamberg near Hancock, N.Y., in phone conversations with supporters in South Carolina and Texas. Jurors listened to many phone calls in which Doggart talked about burning down Islamberg’s mosque with explosives and shooting anyone who opposed his team with assault rifles.
Defense attorneys countered that Doggart exaggerated a number of facts, never had a consistent plan in place, was goaded by a confidential informant into carrying out the attack and only wanted to conduct peaceful recon on Islamberg. Defense attorney Jonathan Turner told jurors in his closing arguments that Doggart was convinced Islamberg’s residents wanted to carry out a terror attack on New York City, in part because of Fox News broadcasts.
Since his arrest in April 2015, Doggart has spent most of the time out on bond until his recent conviction. After that verdict, Doggart’s defense attorneys had asked Judge Collier to let him stay on house arrest before his May 31 sentencing hearing, citing medical problems. Collier denied the request saying Doggart appeared obsessed with the community of Islamberg and should stay in custody until sentencing.
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After five days of deliberations, a jury has acquitted the Minnesota police officer, Jeronimo Yanez, of all charges in shooting death of Philando Castile. Officer Yanez, an officer for the suburb of St. Anthony, had been charged with second-degree manslaughter and endangering safety by discharging a firearm in the shooting. Yanez and the 12 jurors were quickly led out of the courtroom after the verdict was announced.
In July 2016, Castile was pulled over for a broken tail light and was shot within 62 seconds of his encounter with Officer Yanez. Castile’s girlfriend Diamond Reynolds, who was in the passenger seat, began Facebook livestreaming less than a minute after the shooting as her 4 year old daughter hid in the backseat and Castile slumped over dying.
Dash cam footage shows Officer Yanez approach the vehicle and exchange greetings with Castile and informing him of a brake light problem. He asks for Castile’s driver’s license and proof of insurance. Castile who had a concealed carry license hands the officer his insurance card and says “Sir, I have to tell you that I do have a firearm on me.” Officer Yanez replies, “Okay” and places his right hand on the holster of his gun and says “Okay, don’t reach for it.” Castile responds “I’m not pulling it out,” as Officer Yanez continues to yell “Don’t pull it out.” Yanez pulled his gun and fired seven shots in the direction of Castile. Reynolds yelled, “You just killed my boyfriend!” Castile moaned and said, “I wasn’t reaching for it”, which were his last words.
Reynolds started live-streaming onto Facebook about 40 seconds after the last shot. In a shaky voice she explains that the officer has just killed her boyfriend and that he was licensed to carry. Yanez can be heard shouting “I told him not to reach for it. I told him to get his hand off of it.” Reynolds replies “He had, you told him to get his ID, sir, and his driver’s license. Oh my God. Please don’t tell me he’s dead.”
Officer Yanez’s recollection of the events was that Castile told him he had a gun at the same time he reached down between his right leg and the center console of the vehicle. Yanez stated “He put his hand around something,” and said Castile’s hand took a C-shape, “like putting my hand up to the butt of the gun.” Yanez said he then lost view of Castile’s hand. “I know he had an object and it was dark,” he said. “And he was pulling it out with his right hand. And as he was pulling it out, a million things started going through my head. And I thought I was gonna die.” Yanez said he thought Castile had the gun in his right hand and he had “no option” but to shoot.
Officials in St. Anthony, Minn., released a statement saying that Yanez will not return to the police department after the trial. They said they have decided “the public will be best served if Officer Yanez is no longer a police officer in our city.” “The city intends to offer Officer Yanez a voluntary separation agreement to help him transition to another career other than being a St. Anthony officer.”
Shortly after the verdict was announced, several hundred protesters amassed around the steps of the state Capitol in St. Paul. Police said about 500 activists later moved to Interstate 94, one of the main highways in the Twin Cities area. A few dozen people briefly moved onto the road itself while facing police in riot gear, but most of the protesters soon dispersed.
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It’s been estimated that hundreds of tower blocks in England could be covered in similar cladding to Glenfell Tower. So far tests have revealed that combustible cladding has been found on at least three tower blocks across the UK.
Prime Minister Theresa May had ordered inspections of 600 high-rise buildings across Britain, after a massive fire in Grenfell Tower left at least 79 people dead and over 70 injured. Dozens more are missing and presumed dead. Workers were seen removing highly flammable cladding from a tower in North London. The materials are similar to those used in the Grenfell high-rise, despite the fact the cladding is banned in the U.S. and Europe.
The June 14th fire started in the 24-storey, 220-foot high tower block of public housing flats in North Kensington, west London. The tower contained 127 flats, with 227 bedrooms. The fire started in a faulty fridge-freezer in a fourth-floor flat. The building’s recently added exterior cladding is believed to have played a role in the speed at which the fire spread.
Documents show that aluminium composite material (ACM) was used in Grenfell Tower’s rainscreen cladding. ACM is essentially a sandwich of two aluminium sheets with materials for insulation inside. ACM panels often have a polyethylene core, which can be highly flammable. It is not yet clear whether this material was used in Grenfell Tower’s cladding.
Hundreds of firefighters and 45 fire engines were involved in efforts to control the fire which burned for 60 hours until it was finally extinguished. Many firefighters continued to attempt to control pockets of fire on the higher floors after most of the rest of the building had been gutted. Residents of surrounding buildings were evacuated due to concerns that the tower could collapse, though the building was later determined to be structurally sound.
Prime Minister Theresa May announced a $5 million fund for victims of the fire; all those made homeless were to receive an initial down payment of $5,500, with each household to be given at least $500 in cash and $5,000 paid into an account. On June 21st, the government announced that 68 new flats in the same borough as Grenfell Tower are to be made available to survivors of the fire.
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Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is taking an indefinite leave of absence amid a scandal over sexual harassment. Billionaire David Bonderman also resigned from Uber’s board, after making disparaging comments about women at a board meeting intended to address sexual harassment in the workplace. Uber has fired more than 20 employees as part of its own internal probe into what multiple sources have described as a culture of sexism.
The fallout continues four months after former Uber engineer Susan Fowler came forward with allegations that Uber’s human-resources team systematically ignored her reports of sexual harassment during the year she worked for the company. Fowler detailed her year working for Uber in a February 2017 blog post which went viral and kicked off an internal investigation into her claims of sexual harassment.
Fowler claimed that just days after completing her training, she was clearly propositioned for sex by her new manager over a string of messages over company chat. She immediately took screenshots of the messages and sent them to Human Resources. She was told by the HR Team that the manager in question would receive only a verbal reprimand since it was his first offense. She was then given the option of leaving the team which would give her no contact with the manager in question or stay on the team knowing that he could give her a poor performance review. She was told a negative review would not be considered retaliation because she had the option to leave.
Fowler left the team and while working with other female engineers within the company, learned that the manager had been reported for inappropriate behavior by multiple women prior to her interaction with him. She claims that despite having a perfect performance score, a request for transfer was blocked and the reasoning was “undocumented performance problems”. Her blog post also revealed instances of blatant sexism, the dwindling number of female engineers still with the company and chaotic political games within upper management as well.
CEO Travis Kalanick sent a company-wide email the day after the blog post which addressed the allegations published the day before. The company launched two internal investigations, hiring the law firm Perkins Coie to investigate Fowler’s claims – which resulted in the firing of 20 people after investigating 215 reported claims of discrimination and harassment, among other issues. The company then brought on former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Tammy Albarran, both partners at law firm Covington & Burling, to conduct a separate investigation into Uber’s overall culture.
At the end of May, Uber received Eric Holder’s recommendations for change. The board met for more than six hours Holder presented the findings of his firm’s report. A representative for Uber’s board said it voted unanimously in favor of adopting all of Holder’s recommendations.
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Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial has ended in a mistrial after jurors remained deadlocked on all counts after 52 hours of deliberation. Cosby faced three counts of aggravated indecent assault. Andrea Constand has accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her at his home in 2004. Constand is the former director of operations for the women’s basketball team at Temple University where Cosby was a trustee.
Constand is one of about 60 women who have accused Cosby of sexual assaults dating back decades. It’s the only criminal case stemming from dozens of accusations of sexual misconduct — all of which the comedian/actor denies. She says she was “paralyzed” by pills he gave her while he claimed it was just Benadryl and that the encounter was consensual.
Cosby did not take the stand, but his lawyers have maintained the physical contact was mutual and raised questions as to why Constand kept in phone contact with Cosby after the alleged incident. They also questioned why she did not report it for a year. Prosecutors declined to charge Cosby in 2004 but reopened the case after the scandal erupted two and
a half years ago.
The jurors were chosen in the Pittsburgh area and bussed in to Philadelphia for the trial. After six days of testimony, the jury of seven men and five women began deliberations. They were soon deadlocked but continued to deliberate, reviewing reams of testimony. After 52 hours of deliberations, Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill accepted a defense motion for a mistrial.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele immediately announced that he plans to retry the case and ordered that Cosby can remain free on $1 million bail he posted when he was first charged. Steele later told reporters that there “was no pause or hesitation” in deciding to retry the case and that “we had a significant amount of evidence … now we have to prove (the case) beyond a reasonable doubt.” Prosecutors will retry him on three counts of aggravated indecent assault, a charge that carries 10 years in prison.
Outside the courthouse, lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents some of the women who have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct, said that “round two may be just around the corner, and this time, justice may prevail.” She commended her client Kelly Johnson, the only other accuser allowed to testify at the trial, and thanked all the accusers who have spoken out. Several of Cosby’s accusers have been attending the trial.
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