Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Cosby civil settlement with accuser becomes pretrial issue
Prosecutors say if evidence of a civil settlement between Bill Cosby and his accuser is introduced at his sexual assault retrial next month, then evidence of the negotiations is also relevant.
“It is a simple all or nothing proposition; if the jury is to hear evidence of this particular lawsuit and settlement, they cannot be expected to render any opinion free of bias or prejudice without also knowing the defendant’s state of mind and consciousness of guilt during negotiations,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele wrote in court papers.
During a pretrial hearing two weeks ago, defense lawyer Thomas Mesereau Jr. informed the judge he intends to introduce evidence of the lawsuit that accuser Andrea Constand settled for an undisclosed sum with Cosby in October 2006, hinting at a defense strategy of financial motive and greed. At that time, prosecutors said the negotiations also should be evidence.
“Defendant cannot on the one hand attempt to paint Ms. Constand as ‘greedy’ for filing and successfully settling a civil lawsuit against him and at the same time sanitize the jury from the evidence of his own guilty conscience,” Steele argued in court papers.
“The evidence of his guilty conscience is no clearer than in his demands during settlement negotiations that Ms. Constand absolve him of criminal liability, refuse cooperation with law enforcement and/or that her attorneys destroy evidence,” Steele added.
If the judge does not allow evidence of the negotiations at trial, then evidence of the civil settlement likewise should be prohibited, Steele argued.
Judge Steven T. O’Neill is expected to address the issue during an additional round of pretrial hearings on March 29 and March 30. Jury selection for Cosby’s retrial begins on April 2.
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 sometime between January and February 2004. Cosby, 80, has maintained his contact with Constand was consensual.
Evidence of the confidential civil settlement between Cosby and Constand was not introduced at Cosby’s first trial, which ended in a mistrial last June when a jury was hopelessly deadlocked on the charges against Cosby.
Constand filed a civil suit against Cosby in March 2005, claiming sexual assault, the same allegations included in the current criminal case. The civil suit was filed after former District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. decided not to charge Cosby criminally.
In October 2006, after three months of negotiations, that civil suit concluded with a settlement agreement, according to court documents and testimony.
Steele argued in court papers that during the settlement negotiations Cosby and his lawyers requested that Constand release him from any future criminal liability and that she not voluntarily cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for the settlement. Those requests were rejected by Constand and her civil lawyers.
Cosby, according to Steele, also requested that Constand destroy all of the contents of the civil case including a deposition in which Cosby admits “to obtaining seven prescriptions for Quaaludes, never intending to ever take the powerful prescription pills himself and to giving Quaaludes to women that he wanted to engage in sexual contact with.”
Constand, according to Steele, “ultimately agreed that she would not affirmatively initiate a criminal complaint” against Cosby for allegedly sexually assaulting her in 2004.
“It was also agreed that should law enforcement request the contents of the civil file, notification would be made to (Cosby’s) attorneys, unless law enforcement requested that no notification be given,” Steele wrote in court papers.
Steele argued evidence of the settlement negotiations shows Cosby’s “consciousness of guilt.”
“If the argument is to be made that Ms. Constand was ‘greedy’ and out for money and that she intended to ‘set up’ (Cosby) through this lawsuit, then the demands made by (Cosby) through his counsel during negotiations rebut the same,” Steele argued.
Cosby remains free on 10 percent of $1 million bail, pending the 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.