(Black serial rapist) Bill Cosby in the news

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/04/13/cosby-cannot-question-accuser/

Cosby Loses Bid To Question Accuser Before Trial
April 13, 2017 7:37 AM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bill Cosby has lost his bid to question his accuser in court before his sexual-assault case goes to trial near Philadelphia.

The 79-year-old comedian’s lawyers lost their appeal on the issue of whether accuser Andrea Constand should have been forced to testify at a preliminary hearing last year.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to take up Cosby’s appeal.

Pennsylvania case law allows prosecutors to use an accuser’s statements to police in court to spare victims the ordeal of having to testify repeatedly.

Cosby is charged with drugging and molesting Constand in 2004. He has pleaded not guilty and remains free on $1 million bail.

Jury selection is set to get underway next month.
 
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Bill-Cosby-Breaks-Silence-Interview-Blind-420473223.html

Bill Cosby Speaks About Sight, 'True Histories' in Rare Interview
By Asher Klein
Published 13 minutes ago | Updated 5 minutes ago

Comedian Bill Cosby is blind, he confirmed in a rare interview released Wednesday, in the run-up to his sexual assault trial in suburban Philadelphia.

The interview, published by the National Newspaper Publishers Association Newswire, only features a few quotes from Cosby. He and a public relations expert decided to give the interview to the agency, which focuses on the black community, because they felt the outlet would be more interested in "facts over sensationalism," according to the interview.

It's his first time speaking at length to the press since charges were filed against him for allegedly sexually assaulting a Temple University employee at his home in 2004. Cosby has pleaded not guilty and is free on $1 million bail. He calls the encounter consensual.

His attorneys said in court in November that Cosby is too blind to identify his accusers in photographs. He has been guided into the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, courtroom for pre-trial appearances.

In the interview, Cosby said he called out to his wife when he woke up one morning without sight, and he also referred to "the true histories" of the United States being different from what is in textbooks.

Cosby also said in the interview that he misses performing: "I think about walking out on stage somewhere in the United States of America and sitting down in a chair and giving the performance that will be the beginning of the next chapter of my career."

His youngest daughter, Evin Cosby, released a statement defending her father as loving and the victim of unproven allegations that were played up because of their salaciousness. Dozens of women have come forward in recent years to allege they were the victims of Cosby's sexual misconduct, which Cosby has denied. He's also argued he can't defend himself against vague accusations stretching back decades.

"The harsh and hurtful accusations of things that supposedly happened 40 or 50 years ago, before I was born, in another lifetime, and that have been carelessly repeated as truth without allowing my dad to defend himself and without requiring proof, has punished not just my dad but every one of us," Evin Cosby wrote.

The trial beings June 5, and the judge expects it to last about two weeks.
 
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/04/28/cosby-jury-quaaludes-no-spanish-fly/

Judge: Cosby Jury Can Hear About Quaaludes, Not Spanish Fly
April 28, 2017 1:53 PM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jurors at Bill Cosby’s sex assault trial can hear his explosive deposition testimony about quaaludes but not his references to the supposed aphrodisiac Spanish fly, a judge ruled Friday.

The 79-year-old Cosby is accused of drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. He calls the encounter consensual.

In the decade-old deposition, Cosby said he got seven prescriptions for quaaludes in the 1970s, intending not to take them himself but to give them to women he was pursuing for sex. The powerful sedatives were banned in 1983, and Cosby said he no longer had them when he met Constand 20 years later.

Defense lawyers therefore pushed to exclude his testimony about quaaludes from the trial.

Prosecutors sought to include Cosby’s comedic riffs about Spanish fly to show a familiarity with date-rape drugs. The defense called the references, in his 1991 book “Childhood” and a Larry King interview that same year, nothing more than fanciful stories about adolescence.

Spanish fly is made from a green beetle called the Spanish fly, in the family of blister beetles, and has been sold as an aphrodisiac. In
the book, Cosby says he and his adolescent friends needed the potion to get girls interested in them.

“They’re never in the mood for us,” Cosby wrote. “They need chemicals.”

Cosby, once known as America’s Dad for his beloved portrayal of Dr. Cliff Huxtable on his top-ranked “The Cosby Show” in the 1980s and ’90s, is charged with felony sexual assault.

Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill also ruled Friday to exclude from Cosby’s trial references to Constand’s lawsuit or the settlement.

Jury selection is set to start May 22, and opening arguments are set for June 5.

Cosby settled Constand’s lawsuit for an undisclosed sum after giving four days of deposition testimony. He has pleaded not guilty in the criminal case, which prosecutors reopened in 2015 after key parts of the deposition were unsealed.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they give permission, which Constand has done.
 
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/05/16/bill-cosby-sex-assault-allegations/

Cosby: ‘I Just Truly Believe’ Racism, Revenge Behind Sex Assault Allegations
May 16, 2017 12:34 PM

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Bill Cosby is addressing his sexual assault scandal for the first time in more than two years.

Radio host Michael Smerconish interviewed Cosby on his Sirius Radio show.

In clips that have been released, Cosby seems to suggest racism and revenge were behind the allegations against him. :rolleyes:

“I just truly believe that some of it may very well be that,” Cosby said.

Cosby also seems to claim his dozens of accusers were “piling on.” :rolleyes:

“Are you telling me they’re all lying?” Smerconish asked.

Cosby responded, “You know better than that.”

Cosby also told Smerconish that he doesn’t expect to testify during his trial.

CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman says the interview could be part of an effort to remind potential jurors of Cosby’s presumption of innocence. :rolleyes:

“There is always the possibility that defense attorneys look for of jury nullification,” said Klieman. “That somehow, even in the face of overwhelming evidence, that there may be a reason for jurors to acquit.”

Cosby granted the interview because the radio host promised to broadcast statements from Cosby’s daughters Ensa and Erinn. Smerconish also agreed to air an interview between Erinn and her father.

“For two years or more, it has been relentless publicity against him,” said Klieman. “And who is there to humanize Bill Cosby, if not Bill Cosby and his own children.”

Cosby says his health is generally good, but glaucoma has left him legally blind.

Cosby says he isn’t trying to influence jurors, who will be selected next week for the June 5 trial.
 
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...estify-at-Sexual-Assault-Trial-422547324.html

Bill Cosby Says He Won’t Testify at Sexual Assault Trial
Published at 11:02 AM EDT on May 16, 2017 | Updated 12 minutes ago

Bill Cosby said he doesn't expect to testify at his sexual assault trial and suggested that racism "could be" behind the scores of accusations against him.

Cosby also said he thinks the approximately 60 women who have accused him of sexual misconduct came forward only after earlier allegations raised a decade ago died down.

"The piling on, so to speak, is a way and certainly an impressive way to get public opinion to come to the other side," Cosby said.

The comedian spoke to SiriusXM radio host Michael Smerconish in a 33-minute segment broadcast Tuesday, less than a week before jury selection gets underway. Smerconish said on his Facebook page that he agreed to air audio from the Cosby family "only if I could interview Bill Cosby." The program included about four minutes of recorded excerpts from statements two of his daughters made and an interview one daughter conducted with him.

Cosby, who turns 80 in July, said his lawyers won't let him discuss the criminal case. However, he said he has "never, never" lost the support of his wife, Camille. They have been married for over 50 years.

Daughter Ensa Cosby said she believes "racism has played a role" in the accusations against her father. Asked to respond, Bill Cosby said, "It could be."

Another daughter, Erinn, said her father has been condemned "unjustly and cruelly" in the court of public opinion.

"Like the cruel history of our people, the legal system and the protections of the law do not seem to exist for him today," Erinn Cosby said.

Bill Cosby described his health as generally good but said glaucoma has left him legally blind. He said he did not do the interview to try to influence jurors.

"You can't aim at jurors," he said.

The jury will be chosen starting Monday in Pittsburgh, then sequestered about 300 miles away for the trial in suburban Philadelphia. The trial is expected to last about two weeks.

Cosby explained that he does not want to testify because he fears trying to give a truthful answer without opening up "a can of something" while his lawyers "are scrambling." He also said he believes there are more than two sides to every story.

Cosby ended the interview with a quote from feminist Gloria Steinem and said he hoped to again experience "the laughter and the enjoyment" of writing and performing on stage.

"And then I want to take other things and move it to halls, churches, etc., etc., to give what I feel will be motivational and informational and drive people to make changes in themselves," he said.

Cosby is accused of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand, then a Temple University employee, in 2004 at his home. He has pleaded not guilty and remains free on $1 million bail. He settled Constand's civil suit in 2006 for an undisclosed sum after giving deposition testimony that became public in 2015.

Cosby, in that deposition, described sexual liaisons with a string of young women, some of whom say he sexually assaulted them after giving them drugs or alcohol. Parts of his deposition are expected to be aired at the criminal trial. The judge will allow one other accuser to testify for the prosecution and said prosecutors can reference Cosby's testimony about getting quaaludes in the 1970s to give women before sex.

The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they are the victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, as Constand has done.

Cosby, through spokesman Andrew Wyatt, has declined to speak to the AP.
 
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/05/22/jury-selection-in-bill-cosby-sex-assault-trial/

Jury Selection To Get Underway In Bill Cosby Sex Assault Trial
May 22, 2017 12:50 AM By Jim Melwert

PITTSBURGH, PA (CBS) — Testimony in Bill Cosby’s sex assault trial is scheduled to begin in two weeks in Montgomery County. But jury selection gets underway Monday in Pittsburgh.

Attorneys on both sides will work to seat 12 jurors and 6 alternates from Allegheny County to hear the case against Cosby.

“This is not going to be an easy task,” said Norristown Attorney Henry Hilles. Hilles is not involved in the Cosby trial, but he’s been practicing criminal law for more than 20 years both as a prosecutor and defense attorney.

He said attorneys will not only have to find impartial jurors amid Cosby’s notoriety and fame, they’ll have to find people who are willing be sequestered 300 miles from home in a trial that’s expected to last at least two weeks, while not having ulterior motives.

“You have the challenge of dealing with people who, from logistical stand point desperately do not want to be on the jury. And there’s going to be a certain percentage of people who, because this is such a huge event in American legal history frankly that you’re going to be dealing with a lot people who want to get on the jury. Somehow or another you have to navigate that.”

Philadelphia defense attorney Jim Lyons, also not involved in the Cosby case, but with 28 years in criminal law, agrees.

“The obvious challenge is getting a fair jury that has not been in some way – one way or the other – improperly influenced by media coverage.”

He said this is likely the most important part of the trial, as attorneys try to judge each potential juror with very limited information.

“You’re trying to figure out in the brief time you’re getting to get to know this person, who they are and what their inclinations are.”

Lyons said Cosby’s attorneys will have to determine if potential jurors have been swayed by dozens of other women who come forward in recent years with similar accusations against Cosby.

“This case is not about all that though, this case is about one accusation and it’s important that the jury understand that and focus on that.”

It is unclear how long it will take to seat the panel. Potential jurors can be stricken for cause by the judge, and each attorney can strike seven jurors and three alternates.

Cosby’s attorneys requested a jury from outside of Montgomery County pointing to pre-trial publicity — including a political advertisement by District Attorney Kevin Steele when he was running for the office in 2015. Cosby’s attorneys claim the advertisement used Cosby as “a political pawn.” In the 30-second TV spot, Steele blasted his opponent, former district attorney Bruce Castor, for not filing charges against Cosby when the allegations first surfaced in 2005.

Cosby is charged with Aggravated Indecent Assault. The 79-year-old is accused of drugging and molesting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his mansion in Elkins Park in 2004. Constand says she visited Cosby at his home and complained of stress and concerns over her career. He told her he wanted her to relax, and he went upstairs. She says he returned with three blue pills which he said “would take the edge off.” Not long after Constand swallowed the pills, she says she felt “rubbery” and everything had become “blurry.”

Constand came forward with the allegations a year later, after she had moved back to suburban Toronto. Castor declined to file charges determining there was not enough evidence.

The investigation was re-opened by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office after a federal judge unsealed Cosby’s 2006 deposition from the civil suit. In that testimony, Cosby said he would get Quaaludes to give to woman he wanted to have sex with. He also discussed his relationship with Constand and said the night in question was consensual. :ha:

More than 50 other women have come forward with similar allegations against Cosby, but only one of them will be presented at trial. Her claims are similar to Constand’s. She alleges Cosby drugged and molested her in Los Angeles in 1996.

With no physical evidence, Cosby’s attorneys will attack the credibility of both women. They’ll point to Constand’s continued relationship with Cosby after the night in question along with the one-year delay in reporting the allegations.

The defense wanted to be present Constand’s civil suit against Cosby in an effort to portray her as motivated by money. But Montgomery County judge Steven O’Neill denied that motion. He is also preventing prosecutors from bringing up the settlement paid out by Cosby. The amount of that settlement is undisclosed but is believed to be several million dollars.

Cosby could face up to ten years in prison if convicted.
 
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/05/22/jury-selection-in-bill-cosby-sex-assault-trial/

Cosby Trial: 3 White Men, 2 White Women Selected For Jury So Far
May 22, 2017 4:25 PM By Jim Melwert

PITTSBURGH, PA (CBS) — Testimony in Bill Cosby’s sex assault trial is scheduled to begin in two weeks in Montgomery County, but jury selection began Monday in Pittsburgh.

So far, three men and two women will make the trek from Allegheny County to Montgomery County in less than two weeks to hear Cosby’s case.

All five jurors selected in Pittsburgh are white. Cosby has said he thinks race “could be” a motivating factor in the accusations lodged against him.

Seven jurors still need to be seated along with six alternates.

“This is not going to be an easy task,” said Norristown Attorney Henry Hilles. Hilles is not involved in the Cosby trial, but he’s been practicing criminal law for more than 20 years both as a prosecutor and defense attorney.

He said attorneys will not only have to find impartial jurors amid Cosby’s notoriety and fame, they’ll have to find people who are willing be sequestered 300 miles from home in a trial that’s expected to last at least two weeks, while not having ulterior motives.

“You have the challenge of dealing with people who, from logistical stand point desperately do not want to be on the jury. And there’s going to be a certain percentage of people who, because this is such a huge event in American legal history frankly that you’re going to be dealing with a lot people who want to get on the jury. Somehow or another you have to navigate that.”

Philadelphia defense attorney Jim Lyons, also not involved in the Cosby case, but with 28 years in criminal law, agrees.

“The obvious challenge is getting a fair jury that has not been in some way – one way or the other – improperly influenced by media coverage.”

He said this is likely the most important part of the trial, as attorneys try to judge each potential juror with very limited information.

“You’re trying to figure out in the brief time you’re getting to get to know this person, who they are and what their inclinations are.”

Lyons said Cosby’s attorneys will have to determine if potential jurors have been swayed by dozens of other women who come forward in recent years with similar accusations against Cosby.

“This case is not about all that though, this case is about one accusation and it’s important that the jury understand that and focus on that.”

It is unclear how long it will take to seat the panel. Potential jurors can be stricken for cause by the judge, and each attorney can strike seven jurors and three alternates.

Cosby’s attorneys requested a jury from outside of Montgomery County pointing to pre-trial publicity — including a political advertisement by District Attorney Kevin Steele when he was running for the office in 2015. Cosby’s attorneys claim the advertisement used Cosby as “a political pawn.” In the 30-second TV spot, Steele blasted his opponent, former district attorney Bruce Castor, for not filing charges against Cosby when the allegations first surfaced in 2005.

Cosby is charged with Aggravated Indecent Assault. The 79-year-old is accused of drugging and molesting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his mansion in Elkins Park in 2004. Constand says she visited Cosby at his home and complained of stress and concerns over her career. He told her he wanted her to relax, and he went upstairs. She says he returned with three blue pills which he said “would take the edge off.” Not long after Constand swallowed the pills, she says she felt “rubbery” and everything had become “blurry.”

Constand came forward with the allegations a year later, after she had moved back to suburban Toronto. Castor declined to file charges determining there was not enough evidence.

The investigation was re-opened by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office after a federal judge unsealed Cosby’s 2006 deposition from the civil suit. In that testimony, Cosby said he would get Quaaludes to give to woman he wanted to have sex with. He also discussed his relationship with Constand and said the night in question was consensual.

More than 50 other women have come forward with similar allegations against Cosby, but only one of them will be presented at trial. Her claims are similar to Constand’s. She alleges Cosby drugged and molested her in Los Angeles in 1996.

With no physical evidence, Cosby’s attorneys will attack the credibility of both women. They’ll point to Constand’s continued relationship with Cosby after the night in question along with the one-year delay in reporting the allegations.

The defense wanted to be present Constand’s civil suit against Cosby in an effort to portray her as motivated by money. But Montgomery County judge Steven O’Neill denied that motion. He is also preventing prosecutors from bringing up the settlement paid out by Cosby. The amount of that settlement is undisclosed but is believed to be several million dollars.

Cosby could face up to ten years in prison if convicted.
 
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...-With-Blacks-He-Once-Alienated-424475143.html

Cosby Seeking New Solidarity With Blacks He Once Alienated
By Maryclaire Dale
Published at 8:23 PM EDT on May 25, 2017 | Updated 4 hours ago

After two years of silence amid an onslaught of sexual assault allegations, comedian Bill Cosby is sending carefully targeted messages about racial bias across the media landscape ahead of his June 5 trial in suburban Philadelphia.

Cosby, 79, spoke to a black news outlet last month for a story that meandered from his self-described blindness to the racist history of the United States to his dream of returning to the stage.

His daughters sent audio statements to select radio stations last week in which Ensa Cosby said her father had been "lynched" in the media. :cursin:

The messaging continued this week in the Pittsburgh courtroom where jury selection was conducted. After prosecutors struck two black women from the panel, defense lawyer Brian McMonagle attacked what he called the other side's "systemic exclusion of African-Americans."

Two blacks were among the 12 people chosen for the jury, and two more were among the six people chosen as alternates. They will be sequestered 300 miles from home in suburban Philadelphia for the trial. Cosby's lawyers had asked for an outside jury because the case was a 2015 campaign issue in Montgomery County, where Cosby is accused of drugging and molesting a Temple University employee in 2004.

Lawyers on both sides said late Wednesday they were satisfied with the jury's makeup, given that it exceeds the 13 percent black population in Allegheny County, where the jurors were chosen.

"The Cosby team (now) cares about how the public and maybe even how the black community feels about this whole situation, which is striking given his diatribes against the most vulnerable people in that community. But we've seen stranger things in these big trials," said James Braxton Peterson, director of Africana Studies at Lehigh University. "It's ironic how he makes that pivot, given that he's demonized poor black people in the past."

Cosby broke barriers as the first black actor to star in a network show, "I Spy," in the 1960s and created the top-ranked "Cosby Show" two decades later. But he has since alienated young blacks with his criticism of their clothes, music and lifestyle. And younger black comedians who once paid tribute to him have instead taken to calling him out onstage.

Hannibal Burress inspired more accusers to come forward when he called Cosby a rapist in his act in 2014, while Dave Chappelle has talked poignantly about losing faith in his childhood idol.

On his Facebook page, Cosby posted a photo this month of a bold, new portrait of a younger "Dr. Cosby" as the artist delivered it to his New York home. Cosby calls the portrait, "Restoration of Legacy."

And in a longer SiriusXM interview last week, he reiterated his desire to clear his name, resume his career and restore his legacy.

"I want to get back to the laughter and the enjoyment of things that I've written and things that I perform on stage," Cosby said. "I still feel that I have an awful lot to offer."

Loyola Law School professor (((Laurie Levenson))) wonders if Cosby is trying to signal to blacks on the jury with his recent comments, by sending the message "that you have a mission on this jury, to make sure he's not treated as a black man who's come on aggressively to white women."

At the same time, she said, Cosby is hardly the average black defendant.

"Bill Cosby is African-American. But he is the African-American celebrity who crossed the race divide. He had enormous appeal to white households," Levenson said.

The trial is expected to last about two weeks.
 
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...sed-as-Trial-Nears-Friends-Say-426115594.html

Cosby Accuser Calm and Focused as Trial Nears, Friends Say
Cosby, Temple's most famous booster and trustee, first spied Constand from across the school gym in 2002
By Maryclaire Dale
Published 5 hours ago | Updated 4 hours ago

When Andrea Constand takes the stand in the coming days to break her decade-long silence about Bill Cosby, jurors will hear from a free spirit who devotes her life to family, her French poodle, and her work treating cancer patients and others as a massage therapist.

Constand will be the star witness when the comedian dubbed America's Dad goes on trial Monday in suburban Philadelphia on charges he drugged and sexually assaulted her. Cosby, 79, could get 10 years in prison if convicted.

When they last met, in 2004, Constand was wrapping up a life in basketball that had taken her from the Toronto suburbs to a national title with the University of Arizona to a pro league in Europe and finally a job on the coaching staff at Temple University in Philadelphia, Cosby's alma mater.

Constand, now 44, has never spoken publicly about the TV star under the terms of a confidential settlement they negotiated in 2006. And her deposition from that lawsuit remains sealed. Yet friends say she is ready to face Cosby and the crush of media in the courtroom.

"Andrea is not focused on the outcome. She is not emotional. She's the opposite. She is so centered and focused. She does yoga, she meditates," said Donna Motsinger, 75, a fellow Cosby accuser who has become close to Constand since the Canadian woman reached out to her two years ago. "She lives a beautiful life."

Constand, an athletic six-footer with colorful arm tattoos and a wild mane of brown curly hair, is the only Cosby accuser whose complaint has led to criminal charges. About 60 women have accused him of similar conduct, most of them coming forward in Constand's wake.

"She's the only one who found the fortitude to press charges against him within the statute of limitations. I think that's not a coincidence. She's so strong and courageous," said Lili Bernard, who said Cosby sexually assaulted her before giving her a one-time role on "The Cosby Show" in 1992, the eighth and final season of the top-ranked sitcom.

Constand has visited Motsinger during trips to the Southwest, an area she loves from her college days in Arizona. They hike, talk about their spiritual journeys and share the occasional margarita. One thing they don't talk about is Cosby, the older woman said. Constand also visited Bernard in Los Angeles last year, where they happened upon his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame while taking in the sights. They kept walking, Bernard said.

Cosby, Temple's most famous booster and trustee, first spied Constand from across the school gym in 2002. He had a friend introduce them. When she mentioned having back pain, he led her into the locker room to engage in a back-to-back, two-person stretch.

They became friendly over the next two years, discussing sports, health tips and Constand's career. Cosby, according to his deposition in her lawsuit, once invited her to a dinner with local college presidents and also took her to Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut to talk career options with an executive.

Cosby called some of their time together "romantic," describing a few occasions when he said he made advances toward her or lay next to her on his bed during the 2003 casino trip. He insists the encounter at the heart of the criminal case was consensual.

Constand's lawyer, Dolores Troiani, considers that ludicrous, since the 30-year-old Constand was dating a woman at the time.

The Associated Press does not usually identify people who say they are the victims of sexual assault, but Constand's lawyer has said her name can be used.

On the night in question, in early 2004, Cosby summoned her to his gated estate near Philadelphia to discuss her job search. In his deposition, he said he gave her three unidentified pills to ease her stress. She said she thought it was an herbal remedy. Cosby, 36 years her senior, then put his hand down her pants, according to his deposition.

She later told police she was drifting in and out of consciousness, unable to fend him off.

Constand left Temple when the basketball season ended, returning home to become a massage therapist like her father. During her training, she learned about the professional boundaries involving touch and started having nightmares, according to court documents. She told her mother in 2005 that something had happened. They went to the police.

Prosecutors in Pennsylvania at the time deemed the case too weak to prosecute.

Constand then filed the first sexual battery lawsuit against the Hollywood star, a case he settled for an undisclosed sum after giving four days of lurid testimony about his sexual conduct with Constand and other young women. He acknowledged giving some of them pills and alcohol and at least one woman quaaludes.

After that testimony became public in 2015, more women came forward and a new set of prosecutors took another look at the case and arrested Cosby.

The trial is expected to last about two weeks.

"Andrea was a basketball player. She would prepare for a championship game like no other," Motsinger said. "That's what she's done here."
 
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/06/04/cosby-opening-arguments/

Opening Arguments Set To Begin In Bill Cosby Sex Assault Trial
June 4, 2017 7:51 PM By Alicia Nieves

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The sex assault trial for comedian Bill Cosby is set to begin Monday.

You’ll recall last week, a jury of seven men and five woman were chosen in Allegheny County and will be bused in from Pittsburgh to decide the case against Cosby in Montgomery county.

The jury is not expected to hear from Cosby during the trial, but they will hear testimony from Andrea Constand.

She is the former Temple employee, alleging she was drugged and sexually assaulted her in Cosby’s suburban Philadelphia home, 13-years ago.

The jury will also hear from a second, unidentified woman, who says she was also assaulted by Cosby.

Legal experts call this case a “he said, she said” trial, but one that may determine more than the 79-year-old comedian’s fate.

“The trial itself is casting all kinds of light and giving attention to the fact of sex abuse, and sexual assault against woman, said Attorney Charles Becker of Kline and Spector. “Which is important in it’s own right. But the attention the trial has seen also reflects how much our culture has changed.”

Cosby’s criminal trial in Montgomery county is expected to last two weeks and opening arguments are scheduled to begin Monday morning.
 
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/06/05/cosby-sex-assault-trial/

Prosecutors: Cosby Told Victim ‘These Three Friends Will Help You Relax’
June 5, 2017 5:05 PM By Joe Holden

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) — More than two-and-a-half years since his arrest on sexual assault charges, Bill Cosby’s trial is finally underway.

Cosby arrived to court with Keshia Knight Pulliam, the actress who played Rudy on “The Cosby Show,” by his side.

Cosby sat at the defense table as prosecutors hammered out the charges of indecent sexual assault.

The case started in 2004 when the comedian and actor allegedly assaulted former Temple University employee Andrea Constand.

It’s charged that Cosby drugged Constand during an encounter at his home.

Prosecutor Kristen Feden said Cosby told Constand, “These three friends will help you relax,” which is a mention to pills Cosby allegedly produced.

The jury was told this is a case about trust, betrayal and an inability to consent. Cosby’s own words in a deposition years ago will be used against him.

Prosecutors will also introduce a second accuser who will claim she was drugged and assaulted.

Gloria Allred, who represents some of the accusers, was in the courtroom for the beginning of the trial.

“This is the first time that Mr. Cosby will have to face the very serious allegations against him,” Allred said.

Defense attorney Brian McMonagle say these claims are false and that they’ve destroyed Cosby. called day one of the trial a chance to right wrongs and protect the comedian.

The jury seated is from Pittsburgh and the trial is expected to last two weeks.

Cosby is not expected to testify during the trial.
 
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Bill-Cosby-Sex-Trial-Underway-426697641.html

Cosby Lawyer Takes on Accuser as Sex Assault Trial Opens
His accuser is expected to take the stand this week and tell her story in public for the first time
By Maryclaire Dale and Michael R. Sisak
Published 48 minutes ago | Updated 47 minutes ago

Bill Cosby's lawyer asked jurors not to view him as a fallen celebrity on trial in a sexual assault case, but as a flawed man "whose infidelities have made him vulnerable" to these types of accusations.

Cosby, 79, the champion of fatherhood and family values, walked into court on the first day of the trial Monday without his wife of more than 50 years, Camille, or any of their four daughters. He was instead joined by a TV daughter, Keshia Knight Pulliam, who was 5 when he made her a child star on the "The Cosby Show."

On Tuesday, Cosby arrived at the Montgomery County courthouse with his spokesman, Andrew Wyatt.

A prosecutor in opening statements urged the jury to focus on the man, not the fictional characters he created.

"Actors and actresses, celebrities as a whole ... they become larger than life. We have a collective imagination of all of the characters they portray and, because of that, we think that we really know them," Assistant District Attorney Kristen Feden said. "In reality, we only have a glimpse of who they really are."

About 60 women have accused Cosby of sexually assaulting them since 1965, but Cosby is charged in just one case, involving a former Temple University basketball team employee who said he drugged and molested her at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

"I have three friends for you to make you relax," Cosby told Andrea Constand as he gave her three unmarked pills, Feden said, quoting from Cosby's deposition.

Constand, who said she thought it was an herbal product, told police she fell into a stupor, unable to rebuff him as he molested her on the couch. She is expected to testify later this week.

Prosecutors on Monday opened the trial with a woman who broke down in tears as she testified that the comedian had violated her, eight years earlier, at a hotel bungalow in Los Angeles.

Kelly Johnson, of Atlanta, worked for one of Cosby's agents at the William Morris Agency. Prosecutors hope her testimony will show that Cosby had a pattern of assaulting women after befriending them.

Johnson said Cosby pressured her to take a large white pill that knocked her out. When she woke up, she said, he put lotion on her hand and forced her to touch his genitals.

"My dress was pulled up from the bottom, and it was pulled down from the top, and my breasts were out," she said, crying. "And I felt naked." :confused:

Defense lawyer Brian McMonagle suggested Johnson was far from credible, arguing that she said years ago that the encounter took place in 1990, and failed to mention on Monday that Cosby had given her $400.

Cosby grinned and tapped his cane at the defense table as McMonagle confronted her with the discrepancies. :mad: Johnson struggled to explain them.

She first raised the accusations in 2015, when she spoke out at a news conference organized by celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred.

"I felt embarrassed (at the time) because I had a secret about the biggest celebrity in the world at the time and it was just me, just my word against his, and I was very afraid," Johnson said Monday, explaining the delay.

Her mother and a lawyer involved in her related worker's compensation case against William Morris could be the first witnesses Tuesday if the judge permits their testimony.

Constand, 44, of the Toronto area, is expected to take the stand this week and tell her story in public for the first time.

McMonagle also has attacked inconsistencies in her story, pointing out that she initially told police she never spoke with Cosby after the alleged assault. But phone records, he said, show the two talked 72 times that year, with 53 of those calls initiated by Constand.

He told jurors their relationship was romantic. Constand's lawyer has disputed that since Constand was dating a woman at the time.

Regardless, Feden said Constand could not have consented that night given her condition.

"She couldn't say no," Feden said. "She can't move, she can't talk. Completely paralyzed. Frozen. Lifeless."

Cosby, his good-guy reputation already in ruins, could get 10 years in prison if convicted of aggravated indecent assault.

The AP does not typically identify people who say they are sexual assault victims unless they grant permission, which Constand and Johnson have done.
 
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/06/07/cosby-accuser-to-resume-testimony-in-sex-assault-trial/

Andrea Constand Denies She Had Romantic Relationship With Bill Cosby During Questioning
June 7, 2017 12:20 PM

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS/AP) — Bill Cosby’s chief accuser on Wednesday denied they had a romantic relationship before he allegedly drugged and assaulted her at his suburban Philadelphia home.

The defense resumed its cross-examination of Andrea Constand one day after she broke her long public silence about Cosby by testifying that the comedian gave her three blue pills and then violated her with his fingers in 2004 as she lay paralyzed, unable to tell him to stop.

Cosby’s defense attorneys are attempting to show inconsistencies with dates and times of meetings she had with Cosby in 2003 and 2004.

Cosby lawyer Angela Agrusa suggested that Constand, a 44-year-old former employee of the basketball program at Temple University, once enjoyed a romantic dinner at Cosby’s home before the alleged assault.

“You were sitting by the fire. The room was dark. There was a nice mood …,” Agrusa began, paraphrasing Constand’s 2005 statement to police.

“I don’t know what that means,” Constand said.

“The lights were dim and the fire was going,” the lawyer continued.

“I don’t really remember how dim the lights were, but I did have to eat my dinner,” Constand said.

Agrusa also spent a painstaking hour going over Constand’s phone records, hoping to show she changed her mind about the date she says Cosby assaulted her.

Cosby arrived at the courthouse Wednesday accompanied by actress Sheila Frazier, who starred with him in the 1978 comedy “California Suite.” Frazier was accompanied by her husband, John Atchison, a celebrity hairstylist whose clients include Cosby and his wife, Camille.

Cosby, 79, is charged with aggravated indecent assault. The comedian once dubbed America’s Dad could get 10 years in prison if convicted.

Constand managed the women’s basketball team at Temple, Cosby’s alma mater, while he was a high-profile trustee. She said on Tuesday that she felt her continued friendship with Cosby after the alleged assault was important to the school’s athletic department.

His lawyers have tried to poke holes in Constand’s story, citing differences between her courtroom testimony and the accounts she gave to police and in a lawsuit in 2005. The defense has argued the two had a romantic relationship, that Constand wasn’t incapacitated and that the sexual encounter was consensual.

The defense has pointed out that phone records show Constand called Cosby 53 times after she says he assaulted her. Constand told the jury the calls mostly involved the women’s basketball team, especially around tournament time.

Before Tuesday, Constand had never spoken about Cosby in public, barred from doing so under the terms of a confidential settlement they reached in 2006. Her deposition from that lawsuit remains sealed.

Constand testified Tuesday that on a night in January 2004, Cosby offered her three pills to help her relax, telling Constand they were natural or herbal.

Prosecutors have previously contended those pills were Quaaludes.

Constand claims she blacked out, was frozen and eventually awoke to Cosby assaulting her.

Lawyers for the comedian have vehemently denied Constand was drugged and assaulted.

Attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing some of the other women who’ve accused Cosby of similar conduct, says inconsistencies in Constand’s testimony are minor.

“They can go through minor inconsistencies all day long, all night long,” said Allred. “It’s still not going to the issue of was she incapacitated by those pills and was she even able to consent or not consent.”

The high-profile nature of the trial has assured one thing — the court has been stern in its handling of the many reporters covering the trial. Cellphone use is prohibited and the judge issued a stern warning that members of the jury are “apprehensive” and no member of the press should attempt to contact them.

The courts have initiated contempt proceedings against one member of the press, it was announced Wednesday.

It’s unclear what the alleged violation is, but that person will have to appear before Montgomery County’s president judge.

Some 60 women have come forward to say Cosby sexually violated them, all but destroying his nice-guy image, but the statute of limitations for prosecution had run out in nearly every case. Constand’s case is the only one in which Cosby has been charged.
 
http://pagesix.com/2017/06/07/cosby...93.1339919668.1496874351-140889050.1489450987

Cosby accuser’s mom: ‘He admitted he was a sick man’
By Emily Saul and Lia Eustachewich
June 7, 2017 | 6:05pm

NORRISTOWN, Pa. – The mother of the woman at the heart of Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial gave gut-wrenching testimony Wednesday about confronting the comedian for “betraying” her daughter.

Andrea Constand’s livid mother, Gianna, called Cosby in 2005 just after her daughter told her, “Mom, he drugged and raped me” the year before.

Cosby and Gianna spoke for two-and-a-half hours.

“He called me ‘mom’ throughout the conversation,” Gianna stoically told jurors in Montgomery County Court. “He said, ‘But don’t worry, mom. There was no penile penetration, just digital penetration.’ It was almost like he was telling me what happened to my daughter, trying to say it was consensual and trying to manipulate it.”

Cosby continued to blather on.

“He said, ‘I feel bad telling you this, I sound like a perverted person, I sound like a pervert,’” Gianna said.

“He admitted he was a sick man,” she added, shooting Cosby a look in the courtroom.

Then, the actor told her, “Oh, mom, she even had an orgasm,” she recalled, exhaling loudly on the stand and looking disgusted.

people-cosby_2.jpg

Andrea "Howard Stern" Constand
 
http://pagesix.com/2017/06/07/glori...37.1339919668.1496874351-140889050.1489450987

Gloria Allred gets booted from Bill Cosby trial
By Emily Saul and Lia Eustachewich
June 7, 2017 | 3:43pm

cosbyallred.jpg

Bill Cosby and Gloria Allred Getty Images


NORRISTOWN, Pa. — First time in a courtroom, Gloria?

Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred — who has repped several Bill Cosby accusers, including one who testified this week — was booted from the comedian’s criminal sex assault trial Wednesday because her cellphone rang in the courtroom.

Allred, who is known more for her ability to organize press conferences than for courtroom prowess, was escorted out by Montgomery County court officers who’ve kept the crush of journalists and members of the public on a tight leash regarding cell and PDA usage since the trial began Monday.

Cellphones are supposed to be turned off in the courtroom.

Shortly after, Allred, dressed in a black suit, was found perched on a hallway bench.

“I was happy to leave :rolleyes:,” Allred told The Post. “It was off and it rang. :rolleyes: I have no idea how it happened. :rolleyes: This young man was just trying to help me figure it out. I don’t know who it was. I don’t give out my number :rolleyes: and I never answer it anyway, you know that.” :rolleyes:

The feminist firebrand attorney represents dozens of women who have accused Cosby of sexually assaulting them and has attended the trial since the first day. She has never represented the complainant :confused:, Andrea Constand.

It’s not clear whether she’ll be allowed back in the courtroom.

Meanwhile, during a 15-minute break, Cosby — who claims to be legally blind — nearly slipped and fell when he was startled by a court deputy who barked at reporters to put their phones away.

The 79-year-old comedian steadied himself on the arm of his publicist Andrew Wyatt and chuckled about the near-tumble.
 
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/06/08/jury-may-soon-hear-from-cosby/

Jury May Soon Hear From Cosby, Even If He Doesn’t Take Stand
June 8, 2017 7:17 AM

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A jury that heard seven hours of testimony from a woman who says Bill Cosby drugged and assaulted her may soon hear from Cosby himself — even if he doesn’t take the stand.

Prosecutors are expected to show jurors an earlier deposition in which Cosby said that he routinely gave women pills and alcohol before sexual encounters and gave at least one of them quaaludes, a now-banned sedative.

The suburban Philadelphia jury on Wednesday heard trial accuser Andrea Constand offer her most direct denial yet that any of their earlier meetings were romantic.

“It wasn’t a romantic time, no,” Constand, 44, of Toronto, said of an earlier fireside dinner with Cosby, a trustee at Temple University, where she directed the women’s basketball team.

The jury also heard Cosby’s voice on a 2006 telephone call, offering Constand money for graduate school after her mother called to confront him about the encounter at his home a year earlier.

“She could go to school,” he said. “If she wanted to do that, then I would be willing to … pay for the schooling.”

Cosby, now 79, acknowledges in the deposition from Constand’s related lawsuit that he gave her three blue pills before fondling her breast and penetrating her with his fingers. The only question for the jury is how to interpret the encounter. Prosecutors say she was too impaired to give consent.

The defense lawyer sought to show that Constand changed her mind about the date of the alleged assault. But Constand perhaps blunted the attack by saying she got confused and initially thought the episode happened in March 2004.

“I was mistaken,” she said, unflustered.

Gianna Constand, who followed her daughter to the stand, sounded alarmed at the thought Andrea had been drugged, and angry that they still don’t know what type of pills Cosby gave her. Andrea Constand said the pills left her paralyzed and unable to stop Cosby from penetrating her with his finger and putting her hand on his genitals. She said she was still woozy when she woke up six hours later.

The defense spent hours on cross-examination trying to suggest the sexual encounter with Cosby was consensual, based on Constand’s previous visits to his home and continued contact afterward.

Constand’s case is expected to get to the jury sometime next week. Prosecutors, before then, plan to call an expert in the behavior of sexual assault victims to explain why some remain in contact with their abusers
and wait before lodging a complaint.

The defense may call a memory expert to cast doubt on the accuracy of testimony about long-ago events. Cosby was arrested in 2015 after his deposition became public and prosecutors reopened an earlier 2005 investigation that ended with Cosby not being charged.

“She has said the same thing from Day One. She’s always said he drugged her. She’s always said she didn’t consent. She’s always said it was digital penetration,” Constand lawyer Dolores Troiani told The Associated Press when Constand finished her testimony Wednesday afternoon.

Some 60 women have come forward to say Cosby sexually violated them, but the statute of limitations for prosecution had run out in nearly every case. Constand’s case is the only one in which Cosby has been charged. The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.
 
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/06/08/jury-may-soon-hear-from-cosby/

Statement: Cosby Says He Fondled Andrea Constand After Giving Her Benadryl Tablets
June 8, 2017 5:01 PM By Joe Holden

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS/AP) — Bill Cosby acknowledged to police more than a decade ago that he fondled Andrea Constand after giving her what he said were cold-and-allergy pills to help her relax, according to a statement introduced Thursday at the comedian’s sexual-assault trial.

But Cosby also told police that Constand showed no ill effects from the 1 1/2 Benadryl tablets and never objected to his behavior. The TV star said they had been romantic before.

Cosby, 79, is charged with aggravated indecent assault and could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted. He has said the sexual encounter at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004 was consensual.

The January 2005 interview with police was conducted at his lawyer’s offices in New York about a year after the alleged assault.

Asked by police if he ever had sex with Constand, Cosby replied: “Never asleep or awake.”

“I never intended to have sexual intercourse, like naked bodies, with Andrea. We are fully clothed. We are petting. I enjoyed it. And then I stopped, and I went up to bed,” he said, according to the statement read to the jury.

Prosecutors decided against charging Cosby at the time, shutting down a police investigation after four weeks.

A sergeant testified Thursday that then-District Attorney Bruce Castor closed the probe hours after police met to review their next steps.

“We had been discussing investigative leads and where they were going,” Sgt. Richard Schaffer of the Cheltenham Police Department told the jury on Day 4 of the comedian’s trial.

Castor issued a press release in early 2005, saying Cosby would not be charged because the evidence had shown both parties “could be held in less than a flattering light.” He said he was concerned that Constand had stayed in touch with Cosby after the alleged assault and waited a year to call police.

After Cosby left court Thursday, he was heckled by a woman while he was walking to his car.

A new set of prosecutors brought charges against Cosby a decade later, after a judge unsealed Cosby’s sworn testimony from a lawsuit brought against him by Constand. In his deposition, he talked about giving pills and alcohol to women he wanted to have sex with.

Constand, 44, of Toronto, directed the women’s basketball team at Cosby’s alma mater, Temple University, where he was a powerful trustee.

She testified this week that Cosby penetrated her with his fingers against her will after giving her pills that left her so limp and foggy-headed that she was unable to push him away or tell him to stop. She denied they had a previous romantic relationship and said she had rebuffed his previous sexual advances.

On Thursday, a former neighbor, Purna Rodman Conare, testified that Constand became distant and withdrawn in the months after she said the entertainer drugged and violated her. Conare said Constand’s open, easygoing personality changed drastically in early 2004.

Day four of the trial began two hours late with no explanation.

Some 60 women have come forward to say Cosby sexually violated them, but the statute of limitations for prosecution had run out in nearly every case. Constand’s case is the only one in which Cosby has been charged.

(
 
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/06/09/bill-cosby-sex-assault-trial-quaaludes/

Jury To Hear Bill Cosby’s Testimony About Quaaludes And Sex
June 9, 2017 7:50 AM

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Jurors at Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial have heard excerpts from the comedian’s lurid, decade-old deposition, but explosive sections about him obtaining quaaludes and giving them to women before sex are yet to come.

Prosecutors on Friday are expected to continue focusing on Cosby’s testimony, giving jurors a look at his view of women, sex and the night in January 2004 that Andrea Constand says he drugged and violated her at his suburban Philadelphia home.

The 79-year-old Cosby has said he will not testify, giving his deposition from Constand’s civil lawsuit and a prior police interview added weight as jurors consider charges that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.

A detective on Thursday read portions of the deposition covering what Cosby described as several sexual encounters with Constand, including one before the alleged assault where he said he found himself “somewhere between permission and rejection.”

Friday’s excerpts are expected to include an exchange where Cosby, once known as America’s Dad, acknowledges using quaaludes in his pursuit of women for sex.

“When you got the quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with?” Cosby was asked.

“Yes,” he replied.

Cosby testified in 2005 and 2006 as part of a lawsuit brought against him by Constand, the former director of women’s basketball operations at his alma mater, Temple University.

Constand testified this week she rejected Cosby’s advances and would have fought him off again had the pills not left her paralyzed and semi-conscious.

He has said the sexual encounter was consensual.

Cosby eventually settled with Constand for an undisclosed sum, and his deposition was sealed for years, until a judge released parts of it in 2015 at the request of The Associated Press.

A detective said Thursday the investigation was reopened just seven days after the deposition excerpts were unsealed.

Constand, 44, testified that Cosby penetrated her with his fingers against her will after giving her pills that left her so limp that she was unable to push him away or tell him to stop.

In the deposition, Cosby said he gave Constand three half-tablets of the cold and allergy medicine Benadryl before the “petting” began.

Prosecutors have suggested he drugged her with something stronger, perhaps the quaaludes he admitted obtaining decades ago.

Also Thursday, a detective testified that Bruce Castor, the district attorney who decided more than a decade ago not to bring charges against Cosby, shut the investigation down in 2005 while police were still working the case.

Cheltenham police Sgt. Richard Schaffer’s testimony could blunt efforts by Cosby’s lawyers to exploit the fact that Castor saw no case. Castor, who has long been out of office, is on the list of potential witnesses at the trial.

Castor ended the investigation after four weeks.

He testified last year that he had talked with Cosby’s lawyer before making his decision and that it was intended to let Cosby speak freely at a potential civil deposition — the same deposition that prosecutors are now relying on at his trial.

Some 60 women have come forward to say Cosby sexually violated them, but the statute of limitations for prosecution had run out in nearly every case. Constand’s case is the only one in which Cosby has been charged.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.
 
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/06/09/bill-cosby-sex-assault-trial-quaaludes/

Prosecution Rests In Sexual Assault Case Against Bill Cosby
June 9, 2017 4:10 PM

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS/AP) — Prosecutors wrapped up their case against Bill Cosby on Friday, saving until practically the very end the comedian’s damaging, decade-old testimony about giving quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with.

Prosecutors called 13 witnesses over five brisk days. The defense will begin its case Monday in the sexual assault trial.

Bill Cosby could possibly take the stand in his sex assault trial.

A spokesman for the 79-year-old actor and comedian told CBS3 that it’s possible Cosby will testify and said “the game is always changing.”

This comes as testimony was read to the jury on Friday where Cosby says he apologized to the family of the woman he is accused of drugging and assaulting only because her mother thought he was “a dirty old man.”

Cosby’s explanation was contained in a deposition he gave over a decade ago as part of a lawsuit filed by Andrea Constand, the woman whose allegations resulted in the only criminal charges brought against the TV star.

Portions of the deposition became public nearly two years ago.

In the deposition, he recounted a telephone conversation he had with Constand’s mother.

“I apologized to this woman. But my apology was, my God, I’m in trouble with these people because this is an old man and their young daughter and the mother sees this,” he said in the 2005 deposition.

Constand, 44, testified this week that Cosby penetrated her with his fingers against her will in 2004 after giving her pills that left her paralyzed, unable to tell him to stop. Cosby maintains the encounter at his suburban Philadelphia home was consensual. The 79-year-old TV star could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.

During the deposition, Cosby told lawyers that he knew his finances could suffer if the public was told he had drugged and assaulted someone.

“Do you think there would be a financial consequence to you if the public believed that you gave Andrea a drug that took away her ability to consent and then had sexual contact with her?” Cosby was asked.

“Yes,” he said.

According to the deposition, Constand’s mother repeatedly asked Cosby over the phone about the pills he had given her daughter, but Cosby refused to tell her what they were and said he would send them in the mail, which he never did.

“I didn’t want to talk about what did you give her. We’re over the telephone and I’m not sending anything over the mail and I’m not giving away anything,” Cosby testified.

Cosby also recounted Cosby described calling Constand’s family and offering her money for graduate school. Constand refused the offer and reported Cosby to police, filing suit after prosecutors failed to file charges.

Cosby eventually settled with Constand for an undisclosed sum, and his deposition was sealed for years, until a judge released parts of it in 2015 at the request of The Associated Press. The criminal case was reopened when Cosby’s deposition became public.

Andrea Constand: I ‘Wasn’t Able To Fight’ Cosby After He Drugged Me

In the deposition, Cosby said he gave Constand three half-tablets of the cold and allergy medicine Benadryl before the “petting” began. Prosecutors have suggested he drugged her with something stronger, perhaps quaaludes.

Friday’s deposition excerpts were also expected to include an exchange where Cosby, once known as America’s Dad, acknowledged using quaaludes, a now-banned sedative, in his pursuit of women for sex.

Some 60 women have come forward to say Cosby sexually violated them, but the statute of limitations for prosecution had run out in nearly every case. Constand’s case is the only one in which Cosby has been charged.
 
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/20...r-the-first-time-at-his-trial/#comment-356168

Cosby’s Defense Team Rests After Calling Single Brief Witness
June 12, 2017 10:15 AM
Filed Under: Bill Cosby

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS/AP) — Bill Cosby’s defense team has rested its case in the comedian’s sexual assault trial.

The defense rested Monday after calling a single brief witness.

Earlier, Cosby told Judge Steven O’Neill that he will not testify in his own defense at his sexual assault trial.

Cosby arrived at court Monday morning for Day 6 of his sexual assault trial and the start of the defense side of the case, accompanied for the first time by his lying wife of 53 years, Camille.

Camille Cosby’s arrival marked the first time during the trial of the comedian once known as America’s Dad :rolleyes: that a family member was at his side. The couple have four daughters.

The prosecution rested its case Friday after five swift days of testimony in the case that could send the 79-year-old Cosby to prison for the rest of his life.

Accuser Andrea Constand, 44, has told her side of the story. The jury also heard Cosby’s version in the form of his police statement and his lurid deposition in her 2005 lawsuit.

“He could be a fantastic witness. … He’s an actor and he’s a very good actor,” said Duquesne University School of Law professor Wes Oliver. But “he is potentially opening the door to a whole lot of cross-examination that they fought really hard to keep out.”

Prosecutors wanted 13 other accusers to testify at the trial, but the judge allowed just one, an assistant to his agent at the William Morris Agency.

The trial would move to closing arguments on Monday if the defense decided not to put anyone on the stand.

The defense’s main goal this past week has been to attack the credibility of Constand and the William Morris assistant, Kelly Johnson.

Johnson had corroborating evidence in the form of her 1996 workers’ compensation claim. A lawyer on the case recalled her startling account of being drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby, but his notes revealed a glaring discrepancy in the account. He said the encounter occurred in 1990, while Johnson insists it was 1996.

The defense had more trouble trying to discredit Constand. Cosby’s lawyers hammered home the point that she doesn’t know just when it happened, and they questioned why she had regular phone contact with Cosby later that spring, including more than 50 calls to him.

Constand said she had to return calls from the Temple University trustee because he was an important booster and she worked for the women’s basketball team.

She filed a police complaint in January 2005 after moving back home to the Toronto area, and then sued Cosby in March 2005 when the local prosecutor decided not to charge him.

Cosby’s testimony in her civil case shows just how hard a witness he would be to control. His answers, like his comedy routines, meandered from point to point and veered toward stream of consciousness.

And he used jarring language to describe his sexual encounters with various young women. He spoke in the deposition of “the penile entrance” and “digital penetration.” And he displayed hints of arrogance.

“One of the greatest storytellers in the world and I’m failing,” Cosby said when asked to repeat an answer in the deposition.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand and Johnson have done.
 
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