Cosby will not testify in sexual assault trail
Norristown: Bill Cosby’s lawyers put on a case consisting of just one witness and six minutes of testimony Monday, wrapping up the defence side in the sexual assault trial without the comedian himself taking the stand.
The jury was expected to hear closing arguments next and could get the case in the afternoon.
The question going into Monday’s proceedings was whether Cosby himself would testify — a high-stakes gamble that could have allowed him to work his charm on the jury but could have also exposed him to blistering cross-examination.
With Cosby’s wife of 53 years, Camille, looking on from the gallery for the first time in the 6-day-old trial, he told a judge that he made the decision not to take the stand after talking it over with his lawyers.
Judge Steven O’Neill asked Cosby a series of questions designed to make sure he was aware of his right to testify and wasn’t pressured into deciding against it.
Cosby spoke loudly as he answered, responding “YES!” or “NO!”
The defence called just one witness, the detective who led the 2005 investigation into allegations that Cosby drugged and violated Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia home.
Detective Richard Schaffer was one of 12 witnesses who testified during the five-day prosecution case.
In a six-minute appearance on Monday, Shaffer told jurors under defence questioning that Constand had visited with Cosby at an out-of-state casino and that police knew he had vision problems more than a decade ago.