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Originally Posted by lawgolfer
The concerns about other victims is understandable. As to any particular victim, most states provide for a civil settlement agreed to by the perpetrator, victim, and prosecutor to be made which then bars a criminal prosecution. These can by criticized as "the rich buying their way out of trouble"; however, they can be useful as a way of compensating a victim and lessening the harm done to him or her. I agreed to several of these while a deputy district attorney, of course, always with the approval of my superiors.
For those critical of the result in the Cosby case, they should consider whether they really want a legal system where a prosecutor can make a promise to a suspect, on which the suspect then relies, and which the prosecutor could then break. Can you imagine a system where a defendant agrees to plead guilty based on a prosecutor's promise that he would recommend a sentence of 10 years only to have the prosecutor, at sentencing, ask the judge for a sentence of 20 years, saying that he made a mistake in promising to only ask for 10 years?
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Thanks for the explanation. But, according to Bruce Casper, he made no settlement agreement with either Cosby or the victim. He just promised not to prosecute Cosby, so he could not refuse to testify in the civil case. And, apparently, he did not get approval from his superiors.