Woman’s mother bolsters testimony
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — A woman’s claim that Bill Cosby drugged and sexually abused her at a Los Angeles hotel two decades ago was bolstered by her mother and a workers’ compensation lawyer Tuesday on the second day of the comedian’s trial.
Cosby, 79, is charged with sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia estate in 2004. But prosecutors opened their case on Monday by calling another woman to the stand, Kelly Johnson, to show that the TV star made a habit of knocking women out with pills and then molesting them.
Johnson testified on Monday that she lost consciousness soon after Cosby pressured her to take a large white pill. She said that when she awoke, Cosby was naked and forced her to sexually gratify him with her hand.
On Tuesday, Johnson’s mother, Pattrice Sewell, told jurors that her daughter was distraught during a telephone call in 1996, fearing Cosby was trying to get her fired from her job working for the comedian’s agent. A few weeks later, Sewell said, Johnson disclosed that she had woken up next to Cosby in bed with her clothes askew.
The defence has attacked Johnson’s credibility over discrepancies in her accounts, including the year it occurred. Cosby grinned at the defence table as she struggled to explain them.
Sewell, who prosecutors hoped would help corroborate Johnson’s story, said they didn’t go to police at the time because her husband, a Los Angeles detective, feared the ordeal that would ensue.
“Her father didn’t want her to be humiliated and feel shame and embarrassment as he had seen other women go through when they went to the police at that time. He didn’t want that,” Sewell said.
Johnson told a similar story in 1996, when she gave sworn testimony in a deposition attached to a worker’s compensation claim.
Cosby’s lawyers have argued that deceased witnesses, lost evidence and fading memories make it nearly impossible for them to defend the comedian against the 12-yearold complaint.
Prosecutors this week plan to call a toxicologist to discuss the effects of drugs such as quaaludes and Benadryl, both of which Cosby has acknowledged giving women before sexual encounters.
Cosby is charged with sexually assaulting Constand after giving her three unmarked blue pills.