Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Defense lawyers: Accuser intended ‘to set up Mr. Cosby’
NORRISTOWN » Lawyers for Bill Cosby want a judge to allow testimony at his sexual assault retrial that his accuser allegedly once told a friend she could fabricate a claim of sexual assault to “get money to go to school and open a business.”
In documents filed in Montgomery County Court, the defense team asked Judge Steven T. O’Neill to permit Marguerite “Margo” Jackson, described as “a friend and colleague” of Cosby accuser Andrea Constand, to testify about the alleged discussion when the actor’s retrial gets underway April 2.
“Ms. Constand’s statement to Ms. Jackson is critical evidence for the defense as it demonstrates Ms. Constand’s intent to set up Mr. Cosby and her motive to do so, and completely undermines Ms. Constand’s credibility as a witness,” defense lawyers Thomas Mesereau Jr., Samuel Silver and Kathleen Bliss wrote in court documents.
According to an affidavit from Jackson that is included with the court documents, Jackson worked with Constand at Temple University and frequently traveled with the university’s women’s basketball team while Constand was an athletic department employee.
Jackson, according to the affidavit, recalled being on a trip to Rhode Island and rooming with Constand and watching a television news report “about a prominent person who had been accused of drugging and sexually assaulting women.”
“While watching the report, Ms. Constand initially told Ms. Jackson that something like that had happened to her. After Ms. Jackson asked her whether that had actually happened to her, however, Ms. Constand admitted, ‘No, it didn’t but I could say it did,’ and then added, ‘I could say it happened, file charges and get money to go to school and open a business,’” the defense lawyers wrote in court papers.
Cosby’s lawyers suggested the conversation between Constand and Jackson occurred in January or February of 2003 or 2004. Prosecutors have alleged Constand was sexually assaulted by Cosby in January 2004 at his Cheltenham
mansion.
In her affidavit attached to court papers, Jackson claimed she was on a cruise when she learned about the criminal allegations Constand made against Cosby.
“I was not surprised based on my previous conversation with Ms. Constand. I felt Ms. Constand was setting up a celebrity, just as she told me she was going to do,” Jackson wrote in her sworn affidavit.
Jackson’s claims initially
came to light mid-trial at Cosby’s first trial last June and at that time, Judge Steven T. O’Neill denied a request by Cosby’s previous lawyers to introduce the testimony.
“Blindsided in the middle of trial, the defense and the court did not have sufficient time or opportunity to consider and articulate the bases for the admission of Ms. Jackson’s testimony, namely that it is substantive evidence that goes to Ms. Constand’s state of mind…and is also admissible to impeach her credibility,” the defense lawyers wrote.
Cosby’s new defense team is taking another stab at getting Jackson’s testimony included at the retrial.
Constand, according to court documents, testified at the first trial that she did not know Jackson.
“Ms. Jackson would be able to establish for the jury that Ms. Constand falsely testified that she did not know Ms. Jackson,” defense lawyers wrote. “As set forth in her affidavit, Ms. Jackson would testify that she and Ms. Constand worked together, became friends and were in regular contact over the course of several years, and that they shared a hotel room on at least six occasions. It is highly incredible that with that much contact, Ms. Constand would not remember Ms. Jackson.”
In court papers, the defense lawyers also charged that prosecutors failed to disclose to either the defense lawyers or the judge that they had interviewed Jackson, “had taken notes, but had destroyed those notes.”
District Attorney Kevin R. Steele has 10 days to respond to the defense lawyers’ requests and claims. Judge O’Neill is expected to hold a hearing on the matters before jury selection begins for the retrial on March 29.
William Henry Cosby Jr., as his name appears on charging documents, faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault in connection with allegations he had inappropriate sexual contact with Constand at his Cheltenham home after plying her with blue pills and wine sometime in January 2004.
Cosby, 80, remains free on 10 percent of $1 million bail, pending the retrial and faces a possible maximum sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison if convicted of the charges.
Cosby’s first trial ended in a mistrial last June 17 after a jury of seven men and five women selected from Allegheny County individually told the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked “on all counts” after deliberating more than 52 hours over six days. The deliberations took longer than the evidentiary portion of the trial.
Steele immediately vowed to seek a retrial.
The newspaper does not normally identify victims of sex crimes without their consent but is using Constand’s name because she has identified herself publicly.