TV show daughter standing by Cosby
didn’t want to comment on the guilt or innocence of Cosby, with whom she worked from 1984 to 1992, and who she considered “funny, witty, smart, philanthropic and full of advice”.
“I can only go based on who I’ve experienced, and at the end of the day, it’s the court’s job to find the truth of the matter,” Pulliam said.
Cosby’s wife wasn’t in court to support him on the first day of his trial on three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault – each punishable by up to 10 years jail.
The now-blind performer is accused by Andrea Constand of drugging and molestation in 2004 after she approached him for career advice.
Ms Constand was then 31 and had met Cosby professionally through her workplace Temple University, at which he served on the board of trustees.
It’s unlikely Cosby – who says his encounter with Ms Constand was consensual – will testify in the only criminal proceedings to arise out of multiple sex allegations against him. The former comedian, who became a household name as star of The Cosby Show in the 1980s, has in recent years been accused by more than 50 women of sexual assault. However, the statute of limitations has expired on most their claims and the jury in his current Pennsylvania trial will hear from just one accuser.
That woman, Kelly Johnson, testified yesterday that Cosby sexually assaulted her in 1996 after feeding her a white tablet in a bungalow at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles. She said she woke up partially clothed and feeling as if she was “underwater”.
“My dress was pulled up from the bottom, and … pulled down from the top. My breasts were out, I felt naked,” she told the court.
Earlier, in opening remarks, prosecutors said Cosby’s previous admissions of sharing incapacitating drugs including Quaaludes with multiple women before sex, showed his predilection to similar behaviour to that which both Ms Constand and Ms Johnson allude.