Prosecutor: Cosby sex assault trial about ‘betrayal’
NORRISTOWN » Actor Bill Cosby was a “trusted mentor and friend” who betrayed a friendship he had with former Temple University athletic department employee Andrea Constand by drugging and sexually assaulting her at his Cheltenham home, prosecutors argued to a jury.
“Trust, betrayal and the inability to consent, that’s what this case is all about,” Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Kristen Feden suggested to jurors during her opening statement as Cosby’s sexual assault trial got underway on Monday. “She was sexually assaulted by her trusted mentor and friend. You are going to hear some disturbing details.”
Feden urged jurors to put away any memories they had of Cosby as Dr. Cliff Huxtable who he portrayed on “The Cosby Show.” She implied that while jurors may feel they know Cosby, his fame is only “a glimpse” of who he really is and she suggested his own words in police and court statements will shatter the image he portrayed to the world.
But defense lawyer Brian J. McMonagle implied Cosby was the victim of “false accusations” and that the entertainer and Constand had consensual sexual contact during the 2004 incident.
“We know a false accusation can destroy a life. We’re talking about someone’s tomorrows,” McMonagle argued during his opening statement to jurors, suggesting Constand gave inconsistent statements to authorities and can’t be trusted. “Andrea Constand had been untruthful time and time again in her statements to law enforcement.”
Wearing a dark suit, Cosby, who turns 80 in July and is reportedly legally blind, appeared to listen attentively, leaning forward several times, as the lawyers delivered their opening remarks to the jury which was selected last week in Allegheny County.
Cosby’s wife of more than 50 years, Camille, was noticeably absent from the first day of the trial. But Keshia Knight Pulliam, the actress who portrayed his daughter, Rudy, in “The Cosby Show,” made an appearance and sat in the front row of the courtroom with other Cosby supporters.
The prosecution’s first witness was Kelly Johnson, 55, who accused Cosby of engaging in sexual misconduct with her in 1996. Johnson testified she met Cosby around 1990 through her employment working as an assistant to Cosby’s personal appearance agent at the William Morris Agency.
“I had the utmost respect and admiration for him based on what millions of other Americans, especially African Americans, thought of him from “The Cosby Show,” Johnson told Assistant District Attorney M. Stewart Ryan, adding Cosby mentored her on her career plans and she trusted him.
Sometime in 1996, still trusting Cosby, Johnson testified she accepted his invitation to join him for lunch at his bungalow at the Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles to discuss career goals. But she said Cosby answered the door in his bathrobe and slippers.
Johnson testified Cosby offered her a white pill so that she could relax and insisted she take the pill.
“He would not tell me what it was. He said, ‘Would I give you anything to hurt you?’” Johnson recalled, adding Cosby took great efforts to ensure that she ingested the pill, demanding that she open her mouth and lift her tongue.
Johnson, of Atlanta, testified tearfully that she awoke to find herself in bed with Cosby, her dress undone and he was making “grunting sounds.” Johnson testified Cosby then engaged in unwanted sexual contact with her.
The newspaper does not normally identify victims of alleged sex crimes without their consent but is using Johnson’s name because she has now identified herself publicly, according to her lawyer, Gloria Allred.
While Cosby never faced charges in connection with his alleged contact with Johnson, prosecutors are relying on Johnson’s testimony to lend credence to Constand’s allegations, which they claim are similar.
But McMonagle grilled Johnson about inconsistencies between her testimony and statements she made in a worker’s compensation claim in 1996. McMonagle maintained Johnson gave different versions of the incident.
“I don’t remember that at all. I don’t recall,” Johnson said when asked about the alleged inconsistent statement.
William Henry Cosby Jr., as his name appears on charging documents, faces three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault in connection with the alleged sexual assault of Constand at his mansion along New Second Street in Cheltenham between mid-January and mid-February 2004. The charges were lodged against Cosby on Dec. 30, 2015, before the 12-year statute of limitations to file charges expired.
Constand, then 30, was invited by Cosby to his home to discuss her career, claimed Feden, who is assisting District Attorney Kevin R. Steele during the trial. When Constand told Cosby she felt “drained” because she had been missing sleep, Cosby went to an upstairs bathroom and returned with three blue pills, prosecutors alleged.
“I have three friends for you to make you relax. His words,” Feden quoted Cosby and said Cosby’s own statements given to detectives and during a civil deposition will reveal “exactly who he is.”
Constand, who also allegedly drank wine provided by Cosby, reported feeling odd after taking the pills, with blurred vision and unsteady legs, Feden alleged, adding Cosby proceeded to sexually assault Constand on a couch in the home.
“Andrea Constand, she can’t move. She can’t talk, completely paralyzed, frozen, lifeless,” Feden argued to the jury of seven men and five women, claiming Constand did not consent to the contact.