ReturnOfJudah
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Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents one of the five Cosby accusers set to testify during his retrial, claimed Monday evening that the comedian's defense team is trying to smear her reputation by bringing up a past legal infraction.
Allred said that Chelan Lasha’s 2007 guilty plea for a false report to law enforcement is irrelevant to Cosby’s case and has nothing to do with the comedian, who’s on trial in suburban Philadelphia and denies drugging and molesting another woman.
Cosby’s lawyers argued in court documents on Monday that Lasha’s record is vital to assessing her credibility.
The ex-model and actress says Cosby gave her a pill and she was immobilized and unable to speak as he assaulted her in 1986, when she was 17 and he was 48.
Cosby’s lawyers say her memories are tainted at best.
Prosecutor says in opening statement Cosby paid accuser nearly $3.4M
After hours of lawyers huddling behind closed doors and a brief flurry of attention for a topless protestor, the Bill Cosby retrial got underway with opening statements Monday afternoon, including the acknowledgment that Cosby paid his accuser nearly $3.4 million in a confidential settlement a dozen years ago.
District Attorney Kevin Steele highlighted the settlement amount during his opening statement in the retrial of Cosby on three counts of aggravated indecent sexual assault of Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
Constand, a former Temple University basketball manager, says Cosby drugged and molested her. Cosby says their encounter was consensual.
Under their 2006 settlement of a civil suit, the amount of money Cosby paid her has been secret, including at Cosby's first trial last summer, which ended in a hung jury. This time, both sides are allowed to discuss it: Prosecutors will seek to suggest Cosby wouldn't have paid out so much money if the accusations against him were false. And the Cosby defense team wants to depict Constand as greedy and as someone who falsely accused Cosby to make money.
This case is about trust," Steele told the jury. "This case is about betrayal and that betrayal leading to the sexual assault of a woman named Andrea Constand."
Judge Steven O'Neill, Cosby's defense team and prosecutors spent the morning and most of the afternoon behind closed doors arguing over whether a juror had improperly discussed his opinion on Cosby's guilt before the trial opened.
After questioning all 12 jurors and six alternates, O'Neill ruled the juror could stay, saying all the panelists told him they could remain fair and impartial.
It also followed a somewhat wacky episode involving a protester who lunged at Cosby as he walked into the courthouse in Norristown, Pa., where the trial is being held.
The retrial got off to a memorable start as a topless protester with the phrase "Women's Lives Matter" written in red ink across her torso jumped a barricade and tried to ambush the comedian as he entered the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown.
The woman was identified by the district attorney's office as Nicolle Rochelle, 39, of Little Falls, N.J. She's an actress who made multiple appearances on The Cosby Show between 1990 and 1992, according to Rochelle's IMDb page, which lists her age as 38.
Rochelle got within a few feet of Cosby before sheriff's deputies intercepted her, leading her away in handcuffs. She was charged with disorderly conduct and released. (If convicted, she would face a fine and court costs, Edward McCann Jr., first assistant district attorney, said in a press release.)
“The main goal was to make Cosby uncomfortable because that is exactly what he has been doing for decades to women, and to show him that the body can be aggressive and empowered,” Rochelle explained to reporters afterward. Among other things, Rochelle's torso was covered the names of some of Cosby's dozens of accusers.
Allred said that Chelan Lasha’s 2007 guilty plea for a false report to law enforcement is irrelevant to Cosby’s case and has nothing to do with the comedian, who’s on trial in suburban Philadelphia and denies drugging and molesting another woman.
Cosby’s lawyers argued in court documents on Monday that Lasha’s record is vital to assessing her credibility.
The ex-model and actress says Cosby gave her a pill and she was immobilized and unable to speak as he assaulted her in 1986, when she was 17 and he was 48.
Cosby’s lawyers say her memories are tainted at best.
Prosecutor says in opening statement Cosby paid accuser nearly $3.4M
After hours of lawyers huddling behind closed doors and a brief flurry of attention for a topless protestor, the Bill Cosby retrial got underway with opening statements Monday afternoon, including the acknowledgment that Cosby paid his accuser nearly $3.4 million in a confidential settlement a dozen years ago.
District Attorney Kevin Steele highlighted the settlement amount during his opening statement in the retrial of Cosby on three counts of aggravated indecent sexual assault of Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
Constand, a former Temple University basketball manager, says Cosby drugged and molested her. Cosby says their encounter was consensual.
Under their 2006 settlement of a civil suit, the amount of money Cosby paid her has been secret, including at Cosby's first trial last summer, which ended in a hung jury. This time, both sides are allowed to discuss it: Prosecutors will seek to suggest Cosby wouldn't have paid out so much money if the accusations against him were false. And the Cosby defense team wants to depict Constand as greedy and as someone who falsely accused Cosby to make money.
This case is about trust," Steele told the jury. "This case is about betrayal and that betrayal leading to the sexual assault of a woman named Andrea Constand."
Judge Steven O'Neill, Cosby's defense team and prosecutors spent the morning and most of the afternoon behind closed doors arguing over whether a juror had improperly discussed his opinion on Cosby's guilt before the trial opened.
After questioning all 12 jurors and six alternates, O'Neill ruled the juror could stay, saying all the panelists told him they could remain fair and impartial.
It also followed a somewhat wacky episode involving a protester who lunged at Cosby as he walked into the courthouse in Norristown, Pa., where the trial is being held.
The retrial got off to a memorable start as a topless protester with the phrase "Women's Lives Matter" written in red ink across her torso jumped a barricade and tried to ambush the comedian as he entered the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown.
The woman was identified by the district attorney's office as Nicolle Rochelle, 39, of Little Falls, N.J. She's an actress who made multiple appearances on The Cosby Show between 1990 and 1992, according to Rochelle's IMDb page, which lists her age as 38.
Rochelle got within a few feet of Cosby before sheriff's deputies intercepted her, leading her away in handcuffs. She was charged with disorderly conduct and released. (If convicted, she would face a fine and court costs, Edward McCann Jr., first assistant district attorney, said in a press release.)
“The main goal was to make Cosby uncomfortable because that is exactly what he has been doing for decades to women, and to show him that the body can be aggressive and empowered,” Rochelle explained to reporters afterward. Among other things, Rochelle's torso was covered the names of some of Cosby's dozens of accusers.