Experts in Cosby’s retrial disagree on effects of drugs
Philadelphia Inquirer
NORRISTOWN — The prosecution’s expert said Andrea Constand could have felt weak and woozy, with blurred vision and a dry mouth, 10 to 15 minutes after taking pills that Bill Cosby gave her.
A different expert called by the entertainer’s defense team said she couldn’t have felt those symptoms so quickly or severely from the Benadryl that the entertainer said he gave her.
The conflicting testimony Thursday came from two toxicologists, one called by each side in Mr. Cosby’s sex-assault retrial. It will be left to the jurors — who could get the case early next week — to determine which expert to believe, if either.
The expert testimony came after jurors heard from six women, including Ms. Constand, who said Mr. Cosby drugged them before sexually assaulting them. The jury has also heard Mr. Cosby’s own statements admitting that decades ago he obtained quaaludes to give to women before sex.
What drug he gave Ms. Constand on the night of the alleged assault in 2004 and how it affected her is a central question at his trial.
Timothy Rohrig, a forensic toxicologist, testified for the prosecution in its effort to prove that Mr. Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted Ms. Constand in 2004.
“All the symptoms she described, the timing of the onset of the symptoms she described, is consistent with the ingestion” of Benadryl, said Mr. Rohrig, who also testified at Mr. Cosby’s first trial last June. Alcohol, Mr. Rohrig said, would intensify the effects of Benadryl.
Harry Milman, the toxicologist called by Mr. Cosby’s lawyers, testified that Benadryl is one of the safest over-the-counter allergy medications and would not have produced such severe effects.
“If it caused unconsciousness or an inability to move your arms or legs, then it wouldn’t be an overthe-counter drug,” Mr. Milman said. “And the symptoms that she described are very severe symptoms, and they all appeared at once.”
Mr. Milman said that because Ms. Constand said she took only some sips of wine on the night of the alleged assault, it could not have caused her symptoms.
Assistant District Attorney M. Stewart Ryan suggested that Mr. Milman had no experience in drug-facilitated sexual-assault cases and was not board-certified.
Cosby lawyer Kathleen Bliss suggested that Mr. Rohrig’s testimony about Benadryl and Ms. Constand’s symptoms might be incorrect because the drug cannot cause paralysis or inability to speak.
Mr. Cosby told police and testified in a deposition for the lawsuit Ms. Constand filed against him that he gave her 1½ Benadryl pills that night.
Prosecutors insist that Mr. Cosby may have given her something other than Benadryl, because he previously refused to disclose the medication to Ms. Constand and her mother. Jurors also heard Mr. Cosby’s deposition testimony that he had obtained quaaludes to give to women he wanted to seduce, as well as testimony from five other women who said he drugged and sexually assaulted them in the 1980s.
The experts also testified about quaaludes, and their testimony on the effects of that drug differed as well. Mr. Rohrig said they made people act intoxicated, while Mr. Milman said they could not make someone black out immediately, as some of Mr. Cosby’s accusers described from the witness stand last week. All five of the other women who testified said they took pills or drinks given to them by Mr. Cosby. Only one, Janice Baker-Kinney, said she took quaaludes.
Also Thursday, Mr. Cosby’s lawyers sought Judge Steven T. O’Neill’s permission to read decadeold testimony into the record from Sheri Williams, one of Ms. Constand’s closest friends from her time in Philadelphia, whom they had hoped to call as a witness in their case.
Ms. Williams’ name came up during Mr. Cosby’s first trial as prosecutors combed through months of Ms. Constand’s phone records from the time of her alleged assault, showing frequent contact between the women.
Mr. Cosby’s lawyers have barely mentioned Ms. Williams in the retrial. However, in a court filing late Thursday, they said they had been unable to serve her with a subpoena and asked the judge to permit them to read portions of her deposition from Mr. Constand’s 2005 civil suit against Mr. Cosby into the record instead.
Judge O’Neill said he would hear arguments about the issue Friday.