Prosecution rests case with quaaludes testimony
NORRISTOWN » The jury weighing the fate of Bill Cosby, who is accused of sexually assaulting a woman at his Cheltenham mansion, learned on Friday that he once testified he obtained quaaludes to give to young women with whom he wanted to have sex.
Cosby testified in 2005 and 2006 that he obtained seven prescriptions for quaaludes in the 1970s from a doctor in Los Angeles, presumably for a “bad back.” But Cosby, according to his testimony, said the doctor knew that he was not going to take them.
“What was happening at that time was that, that was, quaaludes happen to be the drug that kids, young people were using to party with and there were times I wanted to have them just in case,” Cosby said in the previous deposition testimony.
When a lawyer asked Cosby why he didn’t ever take the quaaludes, he responded, “Because I used them,” adding he gave them to other people.
When the interviewer asked Cosby “was it in your mind that you were going to use these quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with,” Cosby responded, “Yes,” according to his previous testimony.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele displayed Cosby’s words on a large projection screen Friday during the fifth day of Cosby’s trial, at which he’s charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault in connection with his alleged contact with Andrea
Constand, a former Temple University athletic department employee, after plying her with blue pills and wine at his New Second Street home sometime between mid-January and mid-February 2004.
Prosecutors used the prior deposition testimony to support their claim that Cosby drugged, incapacitated and sexually assaulted Constand.
Cosby was deposed in connection with a lawsuit brought against him by Constand over four days in September 2005 and March 2006. The suit ultimately settled for an undisclosed amount in July 2006.
Steele and co-prosecutors M. Stewart Ryan and Kristen Feden wrapped up their case on Friday, and defense lawyers Brian J. McMonagle and Angela C. Agrusa could begin presenting evidence on Monday. Cosby, who turns 80 in July, previously publicly said he won’t testify.
But on Friday, Andrew Wyatt, a Cosby spokesman, said, “We have not ruled out Mr. Cosby testifying ... We are weighing all our options.” Wyatt, as Cosby and his entourage left the courthouse for the day, added Cosby is “feeling great.”
Judge Steven T. O’Neill told the sequestered jurors, who were selected in Pittsburgh, that the case could be put in their hands “early next week.”
While Cosby was not charged with any crimes when Constand reported the alleged incident to police in January 2005, prosecutors reopened the investigation against Cosby in July 2015 after Cosby’s deposition connected to the civil suit was unsealed by a judge and his testimony about obtaining quaaludes was revealed.
In the deposition, Cosby also admitted for the first time to developing a romantic interest in Constand when he saw her at a Temple basketball game and to having sexual contact with her.
Cosby’s deposition testimony was read to the jury on Friday by county Detective James Reape.
When asked if he ever gave the quaaludes to the young women without their knowledge, Cosby responded, “No,” according to the deposition testimony. Cosby also claimed that he did not have any quaaludes in his possession or in any of his residences around the time he met Constand in 2002.
Cosby testified that Constand was “talking about stress” and that he gave Constand Benadryl, “the equivalent of one and a half.”
Cosby, who claimed the sexual contact with Constand was consensual, testified in the deposition he began touching Constand and that Constand did not stop him.
Constand, 44, testified over two days that after taking the blue pills she began slurring her words and became “frozen” or paralyzed and was unable to fight off Cosby’s sexual advances. The former director of women’s basketball operations at Temple said Cosby placed her on a couch, touched her breasts, forced her to touch his penis and performed digital penetration all without her consent.
While prosecutors have not specifically identified what they believe Cosby gave to Constand, with the evidence presented to the jury, they suggested it
could have been quaaludes or Benadryl. Testimony revealed Benadryl did come in a blue pill around that time.
A forensic toxicologist, Dr. Timothy Rohrig, testified
the symptoms described by Constand could be consistent with Benadryl.
“It can cause significant sedation. It is a central nervous system depressant. It can and has been used as a drug to facilitate sexual assaults,” testified Rohrig, adding quaaludes, which are now illegal in the U.S.,
are also sedatives and can cause similar side-effects.
Constand did not report the allegations to police until a year later, on Jan. 13, 2005, after returning to her native Canada.
Veronique Valliere, a psychologist and expert on victim response to sexual assault, testified for prosecutors that there are numerous reasons why sex assault victims delay reporting, including embarrassment or a fear of being judged.
McMonagle sought a mistrial, arguing Valliere, under questioning by Feden, made references to Cosby when she was supposed to testify only in general terms about victim behavior. Judge O’Neill denied the mistrial request.
If convicted of the charges at trial Cosby, an entertainment icon who remains free on 10 percent of $1 million bail, faces a possible maximum sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison.
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.