Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label Kelly Johnson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kelly Johnson. Show all posts

Monday, June 12, 2017

BREAKING: Cosby trial: Defence rests after calling brief witness


  • June 12, 2017  17H:03  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME
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  • From the sectionUS & Canada
Bill Cosby arrives with his wife, Camille, in Norristown, Pennsylvania.Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionMr Cosby's wife, Camille, appears alongside her husband for the first time throughout the trial
by Alyssa Mann and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Norristown, PA
US comedian Bill Cosby's defence lawyers have rested their case after presenting a single, brief witness in his sexual assault trial.
Defence lawyers called to the stand a detective who led a 2005 investigation into claims that he drugged and molested a woman at his home in 2004.
The embattled star, 79, earlier told a judge he would not testify to defend himself against those allegations.
Mr Cosby denies the charge and his lawyer has said she agreed to sex.
Andrea Constand, the 44-year-old at the centre of the case, says the alleged incident happened during a visit to his home to seek career advice.
Dozens of women say he assaulted them, but statutes of limitation rules mean he is on trial for only one allegation.
Mr Cosby arrived at court on Monday with his wife, Camille, who made her first appearance at the high-profile trial in Norristown, a suburb of Philadelphia. She is the first family member to join him.
He told Judge Steven O'Neill that he had decided not to testify after speaking with his lawyers.
Detective Richard Schaffer appeared for just six minutes on the defence's behalf, in which he told a jury that Ms Constand had visited Mr Cosby at an out-of-state casino.
Defence lawyers have sought to discredit Ms Constand by suggesting the pair were in a romantic relationship and she had changed her story several times during a previous investigation.
Andrea ConstandImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionAndrea Constand shares her story publicly for the first time during Mr Cosby's sex assault trial
They pointed to dozens of phone calls she made after the alleged incident and the casino visit.
In 2006, the comedian settled with Ms Constand after providing an undisclosed cash sum to her.
Mr Schaffer also said police knew Mr Cosby had vision problems more than a decade ago, supporting the actor's claim that he is blind.
Judge O'Neill rejected a request to call the defence's second witness, a woman who worked with Ms Constand at Philadelphia's Temple University, where Ms Cosby met the accuser.
The prosecution rested its case on Friday after five days of testimony from witnesses including Kelly Johnson, who claims Mr Cosby drugged and sexually abused her in 1996 under similar circumstances.
Media captionCosby accuser Lili Bernard speaks out ahead of trial
The case is seen as the biggest US celebrity court case since the murder trial of former American football player OJ Simpson in 1995.
If convicted, Mr Cosby faces up to a decade in prison.

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Friday, June 9, 2017

Jurors hear at Bill Cosby sex assault trial that he gave sedatives to young women

Sat Jun 10, 2017 |  02H:59  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME
Jurors at Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial on Friday saw the entertainer's own sworn statements that he gave young women sedatives before engaging in sexual activity with them.
Pennsylvania prosecutors completed their case against Cosby after five days of testimony aimed at portraying the comedian as a serial predator.
The trial was set to resume on Monday with the defense's case. Cosby, 79, previously said he does not expect to testify, though his spokesman Andrew Wyatt said that could still change.
The jury in Norristown, Pennsylvania, saw excerpts from a deposition Cosby gave more than a decade ago in which he acknowledged obtaining seven prescriptions for the sedative Quaalude in the 1970s so he could give them to women.
"Was it in your mind that you were going to use these Quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with?" Cosby was asked.
"Yes," he answered, though he denied ever doing so without their knowledge. Cosby said he avoided taking the drug himself so as not to become "sleepy."
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Actor and comedian Bill Cosby (C) arrives with publicist Andrew Wyatt (L) and comedian Joe Torry for the fifth day of his sexual assault trial at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S., June 9, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
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Cosby is charged with drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former administrator at Cosby's alma mater, Temple University, at his Philadelphia-area home in 2004.
Constand has said Cosby suggested that the pills, which she said left her barely conscious and unable to resist, were herbal.
Dozens of women have leveled similar accusations against the star of the 1980s television comedy "The Cosby Show." All but Constand's are too old to support criminal charges.
Cosby has denied all the allegations.
The prosecution's key witnesses, Constand and another accuser, Kelly Johnson, testified that Cosby gave them unidentified pills to help them "relax."
Together with Cosby's admissions regarding the sedatives, prosecutors hope the jury will conclude that Cosby employed a familiar pattern with Constand: offering mentorship to a younger woman and then using drugs to facilitate a sexual assault.

In depositions taken during Constand's civil lawsuit in 2005 and 2006 and presented at trial on Friday, Cosby said he gave her Benadryl before they engaged in what he described as consensual sexual conduct.
Defense lawyers have focused on discrepancies in Constand's and Johnson's accounts. They have also emphasized that Constand maintained frequent contact with Cosby following the incident, which Constand has said was necessary for her job.
Prosecutors on Friday called a psychologist, Veronique Valliere, to explain why sexual trauma victims sometimes have trouble recalling details and act in ways that can appear illogical.
But Cosby lawyer Brian McMonagle showed jurors a Facebook post after Cosby's case was bound over for trial in which Valliere wrote, "Victory! The case goes on."
"You're biased in this case, aren't you?" McMonagle said.
"I don't think so," Valliere replied.