The Latest: Cosby's 2005 deposition undercuts defence | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
Subscribe

Would you like to subscribe to our newsletter?

The Latest: Cosby's 2005 deposition undercuts defence

Andrea Constand arrives to resume her testimony during Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Monday, April 16, 2018. (Dominick Reuter/Pool Photo via AP)
Original Publication Date April 17, 2018 - 5:41 AM

NORRISTOWN, Pa. - The Latest on Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial (all times local):

6:10 p.m.

Bill Cosby's own words are undercutting his defence.

Jurors at the comedian's sexual assault retrial are hearing portions of a deposition he gave in 2005 as part of a civil lawsuit filed by his chief accuser.

Andrea Constand says Cosby drugged and molested her at his suburban Philadelphia home. He says she consented.

Cosby testified in 2005 that he believed their encounter was in 2004, undercutting his current defence team's assertion that it had to have been earlier and outside the criminal statute of limitations. Cosby was charged in late 2015.

The 80-year-old also testified in the deposition that he didn't think Constand had come forward to collect a big payday. His defence team has called Constand a "con artist" who set him up by levelling false accusations of sexual assault.

___

4:30 p.m.

Jurors are getting a sense of Bill Cosby's view of consent from lurid deposition testimony in which the comedian described reaching an area "somewhere between permission and rejection" during what he claims was a prior sexual encounter with his chief accuser.

Cosby testified a dozen years ago as part of a civil lawsuit that Andrea Constand filed against him.

A prosecutor and detective are reading excerpts from Cosby's 2005 testimony at his sexual assault retrial Tuesday.

In the deposition, Cosby graphically described a sexual encounter he says he and Constand once had.

Constand has testified she rejected Cosby's previous advances. The former Temple University women's basketball administrator accused Cosby of drugging and molesting her at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

The jury at Cosby's first trial deadlocked on the charges.

The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.

___

12:25 p.m.

Jurors are hearing from a police interview in which Bill Cosby acknowledged fondling his chief accuser's breasts and genitals after giving her pills at his suburban Philadelphia home.

Authorities are reading a transcript of the January 26, 2005, interview to the jury Tuesday. The interview was conducted about two weeks after Andrea Constand went to police.

The 80-year-old "Cosby Show" star says he gave Constand 1 1/2 tablets of the cold and allergy medicine Benadryl to help her relax. He says she showed no ill effects from the pills and did not object when he touched her.

Cosby told investigators he had a social and romantic relationship with Constand.

Constand says Cosby knocked her out with the pills and then sexually assaulted her.

Cosby's first trial ended without a verdict.

The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.

___

12:05 p.m.

A police sergeant has told jurors that a suburban Philadelphia prosecutor abruptly shut down an initial investigation into allegations that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted a woman.

Cheltenham Township Police Sgt. Richard Schaffer testified Tuesday that then-Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor announced he was closing the 2005 probe just hours after investigators met to discuss leads that needed to be followed up.

Castor ended the investigation into Cosby four weeks after Andrea Constand told police the comedian had drugged and molested her about a year earlier. The prosecutor has said the evidence showed both parties "could be held in less than a flattering light."

His successors reopened the criminal case in 2015 after Cosby's testimony from Constand's civil suit was unsealed.

Cosby says his encounter with Constand was consensual.

The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.

___

9:30 a.m.

The judge in Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial says jurors can hear the comedian's prior testimony about giving quaaludes to women before sex.

Judge Steven O'Neill ruled Tuesday that prosecutors can read the testimony into the record at Cosby's retrial on charges he drugged and molested Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004.

Cosby testified at a deposition related to Constand's lawsuit against him that he had gotten quaaludes from his doctor in Los Angeles in the 1970s. He said he was given seven prescriptions for the now-banned sedative, ostensibly for a sore back.

Cosby said he never took the drug, instead giving it to women he wanted to have sex with.

Cosby's lawyers argued the testimony is irrelevant to his retrial because there's no evidence he gave Constand the drug.

The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.

___

8:30 a.m.

Bill Cosby has arrived for his sexual assault retrial, where prosecutors are building to a close in their case.

A spokeswoman for the 80-year-old comedian blasted his chief accuser and her mother as they arrived at a suburban Philadelphia courthouse Tuesday morning.

Ebonee Benson says that Andrea and her mother Gianna Constand's testimony "seemed to be more colorful and more embellished" than during last year's trial that ended with a hung jury.

Constand on Monday denied making up her story to set up a big pay day, and her mother testified that Cosby apologized.

Cosby is on trial over charges he drugged and molested Constand in 2004. He says the encounter was consensual.

Investigators and a pharmaceutical expert are expected to take the stand on the seventh day of the proceedings.

The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.

___

12:30 a.m.

Prosecutors are building to the conclusion of their case against comedian Bill Cosby in his sexual assault retrial.

Investigators and a pharmaceutical expert are expected to take the stand beginning Tuesday.

Prosecutors on Monday delivered a one-two punch as chief accuser Andrea Constand rejected defence allegations that she concocted her story to score a big payday, and her mother testified that Cosby apologized.

Andrea and Gianna Constand's testimony followed that of five additional accusers who told jurors that Cosby had drugged and assaulted them two decades earlier.

Andrea Constand has accused Cosby of drugging and molesting her at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. Cosby has denied the allegations.

The Associated Press doesn't typically identify people who say they're victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.

News from © The Associated Press, 2018
The Associated Press

  • Popular vernon News
View Site in: Desktop | Mobile