the saga of Jian Ghomeshi

[viennese]

The Fifth Estate program gives a interesting overview and history.
I'm not sure that the CBC exec was weaselly - more like he was hamstrung by confidentiality obligation.

As gross as it is, he is still talking about an HR issue. No former bosses are not allowed to say much about personnel, hiring, firing procedures - even if internal memos and documents have been leaked, and former fellow employees are talking, the CBC exec cannot comment on them.

 

[algonquin]

The Fifth Estate program gives a interesting overview and history.
I'm not sure that the CBC exec was weaselly - more like he was hamstrung by confidentiality obligation.

I did not think that he was weaselly either. I think that he honestly believed Ghomeshi. They fired him in October and no doubt would have fired him in July if they had all the evidence.

 

[Rafter]

I was getting a blowout the other day and of course this was the topic of discussion in the salon. The salon owner said that one of his wife's friends dated Ghomeshi for 4 months. So you know that there are going to be women out there who dated him for a decent length of time and agreed to all his kinky habits. The question is, as Jenny said, will any of these women testify on his behalf? Doubtful.

Talk about a dizzying fall from grace. He will be financially ruined by this case because I'm sure his lawyer is very high-priced and he will have no source of income. I know someone in the media industry in Toronto (a radio guy) who said the rumour in the biz is that he was making a million dollars a year. I read an article that said he was making in the $400,000 range but I suspect it was a lot higher than that with the fact that his show was syndicated in the US and Europe.

If he gets out of this without serving time, I think he'll have to leave the country. Who would hire him here?

 

[Rafter]

Also, does anyone think that "big ears teddy" was actually a nanny-cam type of thing and that he was secretly videotaping this stuff?

 

[liv]

I'd be more surprised if he hadn't videotaped any of it.

 

[MacMadame]

So you know that there are going to be women out there who dated him for a decent length of time and agreed to all his kinky habits. The question is, as Jenny said, will any of these women testify on his behalf? Doubtful.

Why doubtful? Because they won't want to publicly admit they like kink?

Also, does anyone think that "big ears teddy" was actually a nanny-cam type of thing and that he was secretly videotaping this stuff?

His MO was to turn the bear away though. So the camera lens would have to be in the bear's back which would be harder to conceal.

I'd be more surprised if he hadn't videotaped any of it.

Didn't he show his bosses some tapes? Or was it just still photos.

 

[algonquin]

^ I believe he showed them pictures.

 

[Rafter]

Why doubtful? Because they won't want to publicly admit they like kink?
.

That's one reason. There are others: invasion of privacy, media scrutiny, loss of anonymonity, won't want to be associated with him publicly, etc.

 

[Scrufflet]

Also, does anyone think that "big ears teddy" was actually a nanny-cam type of thing and that he was secretly videotaping this stuff?

Strange you should mention this. I have a friend who has known him for many years and said the same thing! I'm pretty sure more is coming out.

 

[overedge]

I did not think that he was weaselly either. I think that he honestly believed Ghomeshi. They fired him in October and no doubt would have fired him in July if they had all the evidence.

They had evidence back in 2012 that he was a problem - enough evidence to at least suspend him or punish him. Not because of criminal abuse, as in assault, but the way he treated his staff and ran his show. And they did nothing meaningful about it.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...lained-about-culture-of-fear/article21473254/

 

[overedge]

^ I believe he showed them pictures.

The Toronto Star says he also showed them "graphic videos": http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...wed_cbc_video_of_bondage_beating_sources.html

 

[algonquin]

The Toronto Star says he also showed them "graphic videos": http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...wed_cbc_video_of_bondage_beating_sources.html

Thanks the correction.

 

[Habs]

The producer at CBC who has been referenced repeatedly is now speaking out publicly: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news...tory.html?cid=dlvr.it-twitter-edmontonjournal

 

[Japanfan]

I did not think that he was weaselly either. I think that he honestly believed Ghomeshi. They fired him in October and no doubt would have fired him in July if they had all the evidence.

I thought the interviewer took him to task very well in making the point that he had a responsibility to check the situation out further, regardless of whether he believed Ghomeshi or not.

I thought he looked like a deer in the headlights at many points during the interview. At times he blinked excessively, showing his discomfort.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Freaking finally:
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/03/jia...c_must_be_investigated_too/?source=newsletter

 

[overedge]

And now it looks like Ghomeshi may have violated some CBC rules by not disclosing that some of the musical acts booked on Q were also clients of his manager and entertainment lawyer. http://m.thestar.com/#/article/news...oked_guests_that_shared_his_agent_lawyer.html

 

[kwanfan1818]

It continues: two more CBC execs, one in radio and the other in HR, have been put on indefinite leave, and not voluntarily:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/todd-spencer-and-chris-boyce-on-leave-of-absence-from-cbc-1.2890411

 

[PeterG]

Fired CBC Radio host Jian Ghomeshi faces three new sex assault charges

The article mentions that if convicted, Ghomeshi will face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

 

[MacMadame]

Is there a possibility of being convicted of lesser charges? That happens in the US.

 

[overedge]

Is there a possibility of being convicted of lesser charges? That happens in the US.

I am not absolutely sure, but I think that would only happen if his lawyers were able to negotiate a plea bargain - e.g. that he would change his plea to guilty in exchange for a lesser charge.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Here is a great interview that business professor Fiona Mcquarrie did with David Yamada addressing issues of employer responsibility for her blog "All about Work":

http://allaboutwork.org/2015/01/10/...organizations-an-interview-with-david-yamada/

 

[algonquin]

A good article about the trial this week:

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2016/02/06/what-accusers-forget-jian-ghomeshi-remembers-menon.html

The Judge:

What Justice William B. Horkins makes of this latest twist is impossible to guess. He could make millions in a Vegas poker tournament. As most eyes in the gallery are saucer big, as jaws are collected from the musty floor, he looks like he’s reading the on-screen program guide on his TV while eating porridge in bed.

A great quote about Marie Henein, one of Canada's best defense lawyers.

There’s no question Henein is a freakishly gifted trial lawyer. If she stopped me on the street — “Before I go any further, are you absolutely sure you are a South Asian male? That’s the evidence you want to give us under oath?” — I’d freeze in terror and at least consider the possibility I was, say, a Scandinavian female.

The Crown did not have a good week.

At one point on the second day, after the first complainant swore she never communicated with Ghomeshi after the alleged assault, Henein produced an email to the contrary.

“Six months later, you write to him again,” she added soon after, placing another email with a bikini photo attachment on the table for Crown attorneys Michael Callaghan and Corie Langdon to review.

They turned and stared at each other the way parents do when a principal calls out of the blue to say, “Your child set fire to the portable today.”

Personally, I liked to see Ghomeshi convicted, but the Crown needs to prove their case and it does not help when their witnesses are not completely forthcoming.

 

[viennese]

I don't know how Canadian law works, but I work in the U.S. as a paralegal and legal assistant and I've attended many criminal trials. Sexual assault cases, all the ones I saw, were rarely straightforward.

Victim and perpetrator often knew each other or had friends in common. There was communication afterward, and the defense would play it as "See? She sought him out. They were just dating. Then she was a scorned lover."

And the victim's explanation varied. Sometimes it was: "I didn't want to believe that it happened...I wanted to pretend that it didn't really happen... I didn't want to be a victim.... He to convince me that it wasn't rape."

How the victim appears on the stand, her demeanor, that means a lot to a jury.

It may seem like the defense lawyer is demolishing these women, aggressively discrediting them. But a jury may also understand that they are traumatized and that behavior after a trauma isn't a straight line of logic.

 

[nlloyd]

Ellen Page has tweeted her support of DeCoutere. They are both from Halifax and are friends.

Also, on Friday I heard an interesting interview on CBC radio with a feminist blogger. She pointed out how, in the phrasing of her questions, Gomeshi's lawyer had mobilized the age-old stereotype of women somehow tempting or provoking their assailants into violent behavior. The blogger noted that it doesn't matter what DeCoutere did or how she dressed or whether or not she made contact with him afterwards and why: if Gomeshi behaved violently towards her at any time, he is guilty of assault.

 

[Skate Talker]

I am fed up with this trial already but unfortunately every second of it seems to be repeated on an endless news loop so if I want to be aware of anything else happening in the world it is very difficult to get away from it. All this picking apart of every detail makes me sick to my stomach.

 

[viennese]

The blogger noted that it doesn't matter what DeCoutere did or how she dressed or whether or not she made contact with him afterwards and why: if Gomeshi behaved violently towards her at any time, he is guilty of assault.

Absolutely, the defense lawyer is playing on stereotypes - and I believe she is playing to the media and public. Because this is a judge-only trial, right?

One hopes that the judge will rule strictly on the letter of the law, whatever it is in Canada.

 

[mag]

Absolutely, the defense lawyer is playing on stereotypes - and I believe she is playing to the media and public. Because this is a judge-only trial, right?

One hopes that the judge will rule strictly on the letter of the law, whatever it is in Canada.

My understanding is that in Canada you cannot consent to assault. I also believe Ghomeshi has not denied the allegations of assault, he has said that it was consensual. So it seems to me that it shouldn't matter what happened after the assault took place. I understand why the defense is bringing it up, but it still shouldn't matter. I also find all the talk about the complainants having contact a bit annoying. Each, I assume, thought they were the only one it happened to. They were dealing with a powerful man who worked for a national corporation who did nothing about his harassing of women in the workplace. Of course, when they found there were others, they talked. How else were they to get the courage to come forward?

All of that said, I wish the women had been better prepped. The prosecution has fallen down on the job. They should have taken the stand, said yes, they sent emails or whatever, and this is the reason. It would have made a much stronger case.

 

[viennese]

Judge in Ghomeshi trial set to deliver verdict at 10am.

 

[viennese]

Not sure if there is TV coverage, but here is a CTV live blog of judge reading decision. It will take 1 hour.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/ghomeshi-arrives-at-court-for-sex-assault-judgment-1.2830582#liveblog

 

[Jenny]

OMG, not guilty of all charges!!

This is terrible news for victims of abuse and violence. These women came forward bravely and subjected themselves to public scrutiny, and this result - and what they went through on the stand - will no doubt convince others to keep quiet now and in future.

Yes, several of the women changed their stories, left things out, talked to each other - but in the end I think this falls squarely on the prosecution. As the trial rolled out, it was obvious that the defense attorney was very, very skilled and that the prosecuting team were not up to the job.