The trial between Commonwealth v. Bill Cosby is in its third day, having started on Monday in Norristown, Pennsylvania. For those who don’t know, the proceedings involve “Cosby’s alleged sexual assault of a woman named Andrea Constand, in 2004.” According to USA today, “Cosby is being tried on three counts of aggravated indecent assault stemming from an encounter with Constand at his nearby home in 2004. She says he drugged her to the point of near-paralysis and then assaulted her as she lay helpless on a couch.”
The trial between Commonwealth v. Bill Cosby is in its third day, having started on Monday in Norristown, Pennsylvania. For those who don’t know, the proceedings involve “Cosby’s alleged sexual assault of a woman named Andrea Constand, in 2004.” According to USA today, “Cosby is being tried on three counts of aggravated indecent assault stemming from an encounter with Constand at his nearby home in 2004. She says he drugged her to the point of near-paralysis and then assaulted her as she lay helpless on a couch.”
When Cosby first entered the courtroom on Monday to begin what’s expected to be a lengthy and emotional trial, he was accompanied by “Keshia Knight Pulliam, the actress who played Rudy Huxtable on The Cosby Show.” The room was also filled with journalists taking notes for their reports they would draft later in the day. An hour long speech by Judge Steven T. O’Neill kickstarted the proceedings, during which he reminded the jury “not to communicate about the case by e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other social media.” The jury was told “to avoid search engines and TV news, and not to speak about Cosby to their family members, their friends, or their fellow jurors.” Instead, the judge suggested that the jurors get to know each other by “talking about sports…or the weather.” He said, “you’re a sequestered jury, and this is 2017, not 1970. If this was then—then sequestration, blocking everything from you, that’s easily done. But that ship has sailed.” From there, the trial proceeded forward.
But when was the alleged assault first reported? Weren’t there more women who came forward with allegations against Cosby? For starters, “Constand first reported the alleged assault in January 2005,” but the case was dismissed by a Montgomery County district attorney soon after, prompting Constand to file a civil suit against Cosby. The civil suit was settled for an undisclosed amount in 2006. However, the current trial against Cosby was prompted by a comedian Hannibal Buress who told audience members during a videotaped comedy show to “Google accusations of rape against Cosby—prompting Cosby to deny the allegations again.” From there, “a U.S. district judge unsealed part of Cosby’s deposition in the civil case, writing, in his decision, that the deposition offered a stark contrast to Cosby’s identity as a public moralist.” How so? Well, in the deposition, “Cosby admitted that he used to procure quaaludes specifically to give to women whom he wanted to have sex with.”
That’s when things began really going down hill for Cosby. It wasn’t long before 35 women stepped forward, accusing the comedian of sexual assault. Despite 35 women stepping forward, the prosecution offered a list of 13 accusers for the current trial, but only one woman, Kelly Johnson, will testify with Constand throughout the proceedings. Why? It’s simple. “Of the stories proffered by the prosecution’s desired witnesses, Johnson’s had occurred most recently.”
The trial has only just begun, so it will be interesting to see how things unfold over the next couple of weeks.
Sources:
BILL COSBY’S TRIAL BEGINS, WITH THE WORLD BARGING IN
Bill Cosby trial Day 3: Accuser Andrea Constand to be grilled further
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