COSBY’S FATE IN HANDS OF JURY
Defense says entertainer is a victim of false accusations
Bill Cosby took advantage of a woman in a “vulnerable state,” plied her with pills and sexually assaulted her at his Cheltenham mansion, Montgomery County’s top law enforcer argued to a jury.
“He had given her career advice. He had taken on the role of mentor and she goes to his house,” District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said Monday, referring to Andrea Constand’s visit to Cosby’s home in mid-January 2004. “He’s got her in a vulnerable state.”
During a more than two-hour closing statement to the jury that will weigh Cosby’s fate at his sex assault trial, Steele alleged Cosby gave Constand three blue pills, that he told Constand were her “friends,” to incapacitate her so that he could sexually assault her.
“A woman’s got a right, she can say, ‘No.’ By doing what he did that night he took away that ability. He took that away from Andrea Constand. He gave her no choice in the matter,” Steele argued to the jury of seven men and five women.
But defense lawyer Brian J. McMonagle, in a 90 minute closing statement, ar-
gued to the jury that Cosby was the victim of false accusations and that the entertainer and Constand had a “romantic relationship” and consensual sexual contact during the 2004 incident. Seeking an acquittal for Cosby, McMonagle argued Constand gave inconsistent statements to investigators making her accusations suspect and giving prosecutors a weak case that created a reasonable doubt.
“There is one contradictory statement after another. If at the end of a criminal trial you’ve got more questions than answers, then you have reasonable doubt,” said McMonagle, his voice bellowing in the courtroom as he urged jurors to “Stop it!”
William Henry Cosby Jr., as his name appears on charging documents, did not testify at trial. Cosby is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault and faces a possible maximum sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison if convicted. The jury began deliberations at 5:30 p.m. Monday.
Cosby, who turns 80 in July and is reportedly legally blind, and Constand, 44, accompanied to court by her mother, Gianna, sat on opposite sides of the courtroom and neither showed any emotion during the lawyers’ summations to the jury that was selected in Pittsburgh.
Cosby’s wife, Camille, made her first appearance at the trial and sat in the first row reserved for family and friends behind her husband. All eyes were on Mrs. Cosby as she walked along the red-carpeted center aisle of the courtroom to take her seat. But while Camille Cosby listened attentively as McMonagle delivered his speech to jurors, she did not remain in the courtroom for Steele’s closing argument.
During one dramatic moment, as McMonagle stood beside Cosby, he suggested to jurors that while Cosby may have been an unfaithful husband, that didn’t make him a criminal.
“I told you when we started you would see different things. You would see a brilliant comedian… who taught us how to love each other no matter what we look like,” McMonagle addressed jurors. “But people are not perfect.
“When you dance outside your marriage you got to pay the band. And you danced,” McMonagle appeared to address Cosby and then looked in the direction of Camille Cosby and added, “And you deserved better.”
Constand 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 University claimed Cosby placed her on a couch, touched her breasts, forced her to touch his penis and performed digital penetration all without her consent.
Pointing to what he claimed were Constand’s inconsistent statements, McMonagle argued Constand initially told detectives she had limited phone contact with Cosby after the alleged incident, however, phone records showed she had called him 53 times. Prosecutors suggested Constand was calling Cosby, a university trustee, about university business.
“Calling, calling, calling and calling. This isn’t talking to a trustee. This is talking to a lover,” McMonagle argued to jurors, pointing to one 49 minute call. “It’s a relationship. Why are we running from the truth of this relationship? I don’t understand why.”
Steele fired back asking jurors not to be swayed by “fancy lawyering” into believing contact between Constand and Cosby was “romantic.”
“It’s not romantic. It’s criminal,” argued Steele, who was assisted at trial by co-prosecutors Kristen Feden and M. Stewart Ryan.
Testimony revealed Constand, who was 31 at the time of the alleged incident, did not report the allegations to police until a year later, in January 2005. The investigation initially was undertaken by former District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr., who in February 2005 determined there was insufficient and unreliable evidence to prosecute Cosby, who was 67 at the time of the alleged incident.
“They realized this was nonsense,” McMonagle argued, referring to Castor’s decision.
Prosecutors reopened the investigation in July 2015 after Cosby’s deposition connected to a 2005 civil suit Constand filed against him was unsealed by a judge. In that deposition, Cosby, according to testimony, admitted he obtained Quaaludes to give to women with whom he wanted to have sex. Prosecutors contend 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 Constand.
Cosby also told investigators he gave Constand Benadryl on the night in question, “One whole and then one broke in half.”
“His own words,” argued Steele, referring to the references Cosby made to Quaaludes, his sexual contact with Constand and his statement to police in which he said he never knew Constand to be untruthful.
While prosecutors did not specifically identify 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.
Constand also initially told authorities she had never been alone with Cosby before the night of the alleged incident, but testimony revealed she had previously been alone with Cosby on two other occasions when he made “suggestive” or sexual advances toward her.
McMonagle questioned why Constand would spend time alone with Cosby again when he previously made advances toward her.