Drug Cosby gave accuser debated

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — It’s long been one of the most enduring mysteries of Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case: What drug did he give his chief accuser on the night she says he molested her?

Cosby has insisted he handed 1½ tablets of overthe-counter cold and allergy medicine Benadryl to Andrea Constand to help her relax before their sexual encounter at his home outside Philadelphia more than a dozen years ago. Constand testified he gave her three small blue pills that left her incapacitated and unable to resist as he molested her.

Drug experts — one for the prosecution, one for the defense — testified at the TV star’s retrial Thursday that paralysis isn’t a known side effect of Benadryl, though its can cause drowsiness and muscle weakness, among other side effects.

And Cosby’s expert, Harry Milman, said he doesn’t know of any small blue pill that could have produced the symptoms that Constand described.

The “Cosby Show” star has previously acknowledged under oath he gave quaaludes — a powerful sedative and 1970s-era party drug that’s been banned in the U.S. for more than 35 years — to women he wanted to have sex with, but denied having them by the time he met Constand in the early 2000s.

Dr. Timothy Rohrig, a forensic toxicologist called by prosecutors, testified Thursday that quaaludes can make people sleepy. But he and Milman said the drug came in large white pills — not small blue ones.

Prosecutors rested their case after Rohrig got off the witness stand. The defense immediately asked Judge Steven O’Neill to acquit Cosby and send jurors home, arguing prosecutors hadn’t proved aggravated indecent assault charges. O’Neill refused.