Chief Cosby accuser to take stand Friday

Cosby is charged with drugging and molesting a woman at his home in 2004. He says it was consensual.

Just one other accuser was permitted to take the witness box at Cosby’s first trial.

Cosby’s lawyers are expected to ask Lasha about her 2007 guilty plea for making a false report to Arizona law enforcement.

Cosby did not make eye contact with Lasha during her outburst, staring down at the defense table as the presiding judge called for a lunch recess.

“I do not”, she said.

An extremely emotional Lasha, at the time a model and hotel worker, broke down repeatedly under direct and cross-examination, and simulating the “grunting” noises she said the Emmy-winner made. Only one such witness testified at the first trial.

Bill Cosby’s chief accuser is undergoing cross-examination at his sex assault retrial.

Referring to the actor as “Mr. Cosby” throughout her testimony, Constand admitted she had given him gifts in the past to thank him for invitations to dinner and other events.

Seizing on her answer, Mesereau replied, “So you made things up to get a paycheck?” The case has helped demolish his image as America’s Dad, cultivated during his eight-year run as kindly Dr. Cliff Huxtable on the top-rated “The Cosby Show” in the 1980s and ’90s.

Cosby says Constand consented to their sexual encounter.

She said she became woozy and Cosby helped her to a bed, where he lay next to her, grabbed her breasts, humped her and grunted. Although some 50 women have accused Cosby of sexual assault, all but one of the incidents were too old to be prosecuted.

Assistant District Attorney Stewart Ryan argued the defense will get a chance to test Lasha’s credibility when she’s cross-examined.

“I want to see a serial rapist convicted”, Thomas added.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand and Thomas have done.

Lasha had a cold that day, she said, and after a photographer took pictures of her Cosby offered her what he said was an antihistamine with a shot of amaretto.

In January 2004, Constand said, Cosby invited her to his house again to discuss her career options.

Cosby’s musical director left, Dickinson said, and Cosby told her: “We’ll continue this conversation upstairs”. She says she awoke to find Cosby penetrating her with his fingers and putting her hand on his penis.

Cosby’s legal team at his first trial wasn’t almost as aggressive in attacking Constand, focusing instead on inconsistencies in her statements to police and arguing the pair had a romantic relationship. She arrived at the courthouse Thursday afternoon, as the last of five other accusers testified on the stand, but didn’t begin testifying until today.

The pioneering black entertainer’s first trial ended in a hung jury in June a year ago, with a sequestered panel hopelessly deadlocked after six days of testimony and 52 hours of deliberations.

The lawyer, who is best known for winning an acquittal on child molestation charges against pop star Michael Jackson, described Constand as a failure, a cheat and a mooch. The relationship progressed from Constand giving him sports scores to the entertainer giving her advice on a career in broadcasting, she said. If indeed Cosby had given her sedatives with the intention of limiting her capacity to resist, there was something definitely sinister about his actions.

Sixty women have publicly accused Cosby of being a serial predator, alleging that he drugged and assaulted them over a span of 40 years.

Cosby’s first trial ended in a mistrial last June due to a deadlocked jury, but now he faces a new case.

In a 2006 civil lawsuit, Ms Constand won a $3.4m settlement from Mr Cosby.

“These women proved that they were here to back up their sister – they got their sister’s back”, he said.

Earlier, Constand told the prosecutor, “I trusted him and was never threatened by him”.

It’s the second time Constand confronted Cosby in court.