What happened in Bill Cosby’s sexual-assault trial

Bill Cosby is guided back to the courtroom after lunch during Cosby’s sexual assault trial.

The prosecution is presenting a cut and dry case against Cosby, arguing that the successful actor and comedian wielded his fame and power as a weapon against women. His legacy has been under heavy attack in recent years.

The statute of limitations for prosecuting Cosby had run out in almost every case.

The first day of Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial has the usual trappings of a high-profile trial. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years and a fine of up to $25,000 (£19,500).

William Brangham has the story.

The 79-year-old comedian is accused of giving a Temple University employee drugs and then sexually assaulting her. Constand said Cosby drugged and molested her in 2004. She said the alleged assault in 1996 occurred at a later period, after she and Cosby didn’t have much contact.

That will be on full display when Cosby walks into court: He’ll be escorted into the courthouse by Keisha Knight Pulliam, who played his daughter, Rudy Huxtable, on “The Cosby Show“, according to Andrew Wyatt, Cosby’s media representative.

After being pressed by Judge O’Neill, however, McMonagle admitted he only had lawyer’s notes of Johnson’s deposition in that case, not the document itself.

On a separate occasion she described how Cosby invited her to a hotel he was staying in. “And the fact that we no longer have that, that’s the thing that saddens me the most because in a few generations the Huxtables will have been just a fairy tale”.

MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press: Right. As a result, the case was reopened. Lawyers on both sides came out swinging.

“Trust, betrayal and an inability to consent”.

Assistant District Attorney Kristen Feden’s opening statement relied heavily on Cosby’s past deposition testimony about his 2004 encounter with Constand, including admissions that he gave her pills and touched her genitals as she lay on his couch.

The defense on Monday tore into Constand’s credibility in its opening statement, alleging that she was untruthful “time and time again” and painted their relationship as consensual, one that involved many meetings and alcohol, and alleged that Constand telephoned the star 53 times.

MARYCLAIRE DALE: They’re pointing out discrepancies in the women’s various statements over time, saying that the details have changed, the dates have changed.

The accuser said after taking she felt like she was underwater and then passed out. They are not expected to testify.

I understand that the first witness today was one of those other women. Prosecutors in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, had sought to have 13 accusers as witnesses at trial.

She – her name is Kelly Johnson.

Allred represents a woman who worked for Cosby’s agent at the William Morris agency.

During cross-examination, McMonagle questioned Johnson aggressively.

Kacey also testified that one day in 1996, Cosby asked her to pick up food from a restaurant and bring it to his hotel room, where the two could talk about a potential career for her as an actress. “In reality, we only have a glimpse of who they really are.”. They said Cosby testified in the lawsuit only after being promised he could never be charged. “And it’s kind of still the same for me, because that was never my experience with him”.

Feden, the prosecutor, warned the jury not to fall into the trap of confusing celebrities with the characters they play. The reason? According to the judge, Cosby had become a “public moralist” (his speaking tour consisted insulting African-Americans regarding their lives and morality) while he himself was privately engaged in a shocking sex scandal.

During a 2015 interview, the actor said it upset him the “Cosby Show’s” legacy had been tainted because of the controversy.

Can you tell us what is in that deposition? Sometimes, they spoke for up to 40 minutes, he said. He said, be the juror you would be if this was your own grandfather. And they also hope to put on – prosecutors hope to put on a drug expert who will testify about what Quaaludes do to your body once consumed.

They were selected from a different county because of defense concerns about pre-trial publicity in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where the district attorney who is trying the case, Kevin Steele, pledged to re-open the Cosby investigation during his 2015 election campaign.