Jury picked for Bill Cosby's sex assault retrial
NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- A jury has been picked in the Bill Cosby sexual assault retrial in suburban Philadelphia.Prosecutors and the defense have settled on the panel of 12 jurors who will sit in judgment of the 80-year-old comedian.
Judge: 5 other accusers can testify at Bill Cosby's retrial
PHILADELPHIA — A judge agreed Thursday to let five additional Bill Cosby accusers testify at his April 2 retrial for an alleged 2004 sexual assault, giving prosecutors a chance to portray the man once known as "America's Dad" as a serial predator who made a sadistic habit of drugging and molesting women.Judge Steven O'Neill said prosecutors could choose the witnesses from a list of eight women with allegations dating as far back as the early 1980s.
Bill Cosby wants sexual assault case tossed or witnesses limited
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — A day after Hollywood's first Oscars of the #MeToo era, Bill Cosby went to court Monday in a bid to get his sexual assault case thrown out — or at least stop some of his dozens of accusers from testifying at his retrial.Cosby's retooled defense team, led by former Michael Jackson lawyer Tom Mesereau, argued that telephone records, travel itineraries and other evidence show the alleged assault couldn't have happened when prosecutors say it did and thus falls outside the statute of limitations.The defense disputed accuser Andrea Constand's testimony at Cosby's first trial last year that the 80-year-old entertainer drugged and molested her at his suburban Philadelphia home some time in the first part of January 2004.
Prosecutors in Bill Cosby retrial want 19 women to testify
PHILADELPHIA -- Prosecutors in Bill Cosby's retrial want to call as many as 19 other women to the witness stand to show he had a five-decade pattern of drugging and harming women.Cosby is due in court for a pretrial hearing Monday, less than two weeks after his daughter's death, as his lawyers clash with prosecutors over how many of his accusers are allowed to testify at his April 2 sexual assault.Judge Steven O'Neill allowed just one other accuser to take the witness stand at Cosby's first trial, which ended in a hung jury last year.
Jury selection for Bill Cosby's retrial slated for March 29
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Jury selection for Bill Cosby's criminal sex assault retrial will start March 29 in the suburban Philadelphia county where he's accused of drugging and molesting a woman in 2004.The 80-year-old entertainer's first trial had jurors from the Pittsburgh area, about 300 miles away.
Ex-prosecutor: Bill Cosby paid accuser millions of dollars
PHILADELPHIA — A former prosecutor claims his decision in 2005 not to charge Bill Cosby with drugging and molesting a woman led to the comedian paying his accuser a settlement "well into the millions of dollars."Bruce Castor's assertion in a lawsuit Thursday against the accuser, Andrea Constand, and her lawyers is the first time anyone has put a value on the confidential settlement.Castor alleges the women harmed his reputation and cost him a chance to return as district attorney in suburban Philadelphia by publicly criticizing him and suing him for defamation days before the 2015 election.Castor's lawsuit doesn't explain how he would know how much Cosby paid Constand.
Cosby hires Michael Jackson's lawyer for sex assault retrial
PHILADELPHIA — Bill Cosby has hired Michael Jackson's former lawyer to represent him at his November retrial on sexual assault charges in Pennsylvania.Cosby's spokesman announced Monday that the 80-year-old comedian is bringing in Tom Mesereau to lead a retooled defense team.
Cosby trial cost $219K, more than half paying for overtime
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Officials say Bill Cosby's trial last month in suburban Philadelphia cost the local government $219,000, with more than half going toward overtime for deputies, detectives, security guards and court personnel.Montgomery County released a breakdown Thursday that says it racked up about $46,000 in hotel stays for jurors who were brought in from Pittsburgh to hear the case.
Bill Cosby faces 2nd sex assault trial after jury deadlocks
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Prosecutors found themselves back to square one Saturday after the jury in Bill Cosby's sexual assault case declared itself hopelessly deadlocked, resulting in a mistrial for the 79-year-old TV star facing accusations he first drugged then molested a woman more than a decade ago.Cosby's team declared victory, however temporary, as the comedian and actor once known as "America's Dad" for his TV role as paternal Dr.
Jurors deadlocked after 30 hours of deliberations in Bill Cosby trial
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Jurors in the Bill Cosby trial said Thursday they are deadlocked and cannot come to a unanimous consensus on any of the three counts of aggravated indecent assault the comedian faces.Judge Steven O'Neill asked the jury, which began deliberating Monday evening, to go back to deliberating in another attempt to reach consensus."If you are still deadlocked, you should report that to me.
Jury in Bill Cosby sex assault case studies his deposition
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — The jury in the Bill Cosby sexual assault case, weighing charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life, drilled down Tuesday, June 13th on what the TV star said happened inside his suburban Philadelphia home and how he characterized his relationship with the accuser.With deliberations stretching into the evening of a second day, jurors reviewed more than a dozen passages from a deposition Cosby gave more than a decade ago.
Bill Cosby's fate is now in the hands of the jury
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Deliberations began in Bill Cosby's trial on charges of aggravated indecent assault on Monday after prosecutors and defense attorneys made their final pleas to the jury.In a fiery closing statement, defense attorney Brian McMonagle said the prosecution's key witness, Andrea Constand, had too many inconsistencies in her story to be a reliable witness.But District Attorney Kevin Steele said those inconsistencies were minor and little more than a distraction.
Bill Cosby accompanied by wife for the first time at his trial
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Bill 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 wife of 53 years, Camille.The question hanging over the case was whether the TV star would testify.Camille Cosby's arrival marked the first time during the trial of the comedian once known as America's Dad that a family member was at his side.
Bill Cosby on the stand? Experts say it would be a huge risk
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Entertainer Bill Cosby didn't answer when asked the question so many want to know, but his spokesman dangled the possibility.Cosby might testify at his sexual assault trial.
Prosecutors rest their case at Bill Cosby's trial
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — 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.The prosecution called 12 witnesses over five brisk days of testimony in the sexual assault case that could send the 79-year-old TV star to prison for the rest of his life.
Jury to hear Bill Cosby's testimony about quaaludes and sex
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — 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.
Cosby told police his accuser didn't rebuff his advances
NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- 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.
TMZ: The trial against comedian Bill Cosby continues
Ariana Grande heads back on tour -- and Bill Cosby is back in court.
Bill Cosby's accuser stands by her story under cross-examination
NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- Bill Cosby's accuser brushed off suggestions they had a romantic relationship before he allegedly drugged and assaulted her, as the comedian's lawyers labored Wednesday to pick apart her story at his sex-crimes trial.The defense resumed its cross-examination of Andrea Constand one day after she broke her long public silence about Cosby by testifying that he gave her three blue pills and then violated her with his fingers in 2004 as she lay paralyzed on a couch, unable to tell him to stop, at his suburban Philadelphia home.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.
"I was frozen:" Bill Cosby accuser says she was drugged, groped
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Bill Cosby's chief accuser took the stand at his sexual assault trial Tuesday to tell her story publicly for the first time, saying the comedian groped her after giving her three blue pills that left her paralyzed and helpless."In my head, I was trying to get my hands to move or my legs to move, but I was frozen," Andrea Constand, a 44-year-old former employee of the basketball program at Temple University, Cosby's alma mater, said in their long-awaited courtroom confrontation. "I wasn't able to fight in any way."She added: "I wanted it to stop."Cosby, 79, is charged with drugging and violating Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.