Send the bitcoins to me (or we can have a mutually trusted third party hold them), and I'll deposit cash into your account. Faster, cheaper, and easier than trying to cash out through MtGox.
Probably. But there are "hero" members here that I wouldn't trust. That rating only indicates how many posts you have on the forum, it says nothing about how helpful those posts are or how trustworthy the poster is.
You'd have to do your own research into an individual's posting history to determine if you are willing to trust them or not. There are only a few (less than 10) members here that I would trust to hold escrow in a "bitcoin for cash" exchange.