USA TODAY International Edition
Sexual assault retrial of Bill Cosby begins today
A look at what has happened so far, and what you can expect
Opening statements in Bill Cosby’s retrial on sexual assault charges get underway in suburban Philadelphia Monday in what all sides hope will not be a rerun of the deadlocked jury failure that ended Cosby’s first trial last June.
Given that headlines about the former “America’s Dad” TV comedian/ icon have been landing regularly since October 2014, and given the constant legal back-and-forth about the case since he was charged in December 2015, a recap is in order.
The accusations
Cosby, now 80, is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault in connection with an encounter with ex-Temple University basketball manager Andrea Constand at his home outside Philadelphia in 2004.
She says he drugged and molested her. He says he gave her cold medicine and their encounter was consensual.
She reported the encounter to police a year later; the then-district attorney declined to prosecute citing lack of forensic and other evidence. So she sued Cosby in civil court, he answered questions in a deposition, and they settled in 2006. The settlement was sealed.
After dozens of accusers started going public against Cosby, the Associated Press persuaded a judge to release portions of the deposition in which Cosby acknowledged acquiring drugs to give to women he sought for sex.
Why is Cosby being retried?
Because the jury in his first trial, after six days of testimony and five days of deliberations, could not reach a unanimous verdict on any count.
After Judge Steven O’Neill declared a mistrial, District Attorney Kevin Steele vowed he would retry the case.
Which side has the advantage?
Criminal defense attorney Jonathan Mandel, a former prosecutor, says the usual rule is that whoever got the most juror votes in the first trial has the advantage in a retrial. But the votes in Cosby’s first trial were mixed.
“Some of the jurors said there was a 10-2 split for conviction, which would obviously indicate the prosecution would have an easier road,” says Mandel. “Other jurors reported an almost
even split.”
Why does this retrial matter?
Because this is the only criminal case made against Cosby, out of 60 accusations, all of them too old to prosecute.
Why did the first trial go wrong?
There have been conflicting reports from jurors about why they were stymied. At least one juror, Bobby Dugan, said the first trial failed for a common reason: Lack of substantial evidence.
At the first trial, there was no rape kit, no DNA evidence, no toxicology tests, no witnesses, no viral videos. There won’t be any of those at the retrial.
Who’s new in the retrial?
Judge O’Neill is back. Steele is back. Andrew Wyatt, Cosby’s spokesman is back. But Cosby has a new legal team, led by Thomas Mesereau.
The jury is new: seven men and five women; 10 are white and two are black. That means the retrial jury looks exactly like the jury that deadlocked, although it does skew somewhat younger.
What’s changed that could help the prosecution?
In the first trial, Steele sought to call a dozen of these other Cosby accusers, to establish a pattern of alleged “prior bad acts.” O’Neill let him call only one other accuser. For the second trial, O’Neill has allowed Steele to call five other accusers to bolster Constand’s accusations, including former supermodel Janice Dickinson
What’s changed that could help the defense?
Cosby will be allowed to call a woman named Marguerite Jackson to the stand to testify that she heard Constand talk about “framing” a high-celebrity to get money, before she went to police in 2005 with her allegations about Cosby.
At least one juror, Bobby Dugan, said the first trial failed for a common reason: Lack of substantial evidence.
Contributing: The Associated Press