Prosecution rests its case in Bill Cosby trial
— -- The prosecutors in Bill Cosby's criminal trial rested their case at the end of the day on Friday, and on Monday the comedian's defense will begin.
Earlier on Friday the jury in Pennsylvania continued to hear Cosby's 2005 and 2006 depositions, including his description of phone calls between himself, his accuser Andrea Constand and her mother.
In the deposition, which was read out loud in the Norristown, Pennsylvania, courtroom, Cosby said he was "thinking and praying that I’m not being recorded" by Constand and her mother because he believed her "mother is coming at me for being a dirty old man."
“I became the person being attacked,” he told Constand’s lawyers at the time. "I didn’t want to talk about, ‘What did you give her?'"
Constand, who settled out of civil court with Cosby in 2005, alleges that Cosby gave her pills during an encounter at his home in 2004, which left her unable to stop his advances.
Cosby, 79, initially told the two women he would get back to them about what medication he gave Constand, but admitted he never did. He also said he apologized to Constand and her mother because he felt guilty of the large age gap between himself and his accuser. Moreover, Cosby insinuated that his phone call with Constand and her mother proves his innocence.
“What am I hoping to get [by speaking to the Constand women by phone] if I’m guilty of drugging somebody?” he said in the deposition.
According to the deposition, Cosby admitted to giving Quaaludes to multiple women before sex. He said he filled seven prescriptions for Quaaludes in the 1970s, but said he didn’t take them himself. Cosby described the now-illegal prescription drug as the “same as ... someone having a drink.”
“What was happening at that time [in the 1970s] was that at that time Quaaludes happened to be the drugs kids, young people were using to party with, and there were times when I wanted to have them just in case,” he said.
The comedian's side was first shared with the court on Thursday. Jurors heard Cosby saying he and Constand engaged in "petting" "at least” four times at his home – each time initiated by him - and that she only rebuffed him once. He said he gave Benadryl to Constand to "relax" her on the night of the alleged assault.
“I wanted her to be comfortable and relaxed and be able to go to sleep after our necking session," he said.
Constand, who testified for seven hours earlier in the week, tells a very different story, saying she "wasn’t able to" refuse his advances after taking three blue pills given to her by the comedian.
“In my head I was trying to get my hands to move or my legs to move, but I was frozen and those [mental] messages didn’t get there and I was very limp, so I wasn’t able to fight him anyway. I wanted it to stop,” she said.
Cosby, 79, was charged in 2015 with felony aggravated indecent assault shortly before the statute of limitations on Constand's claim expired.
This is the first time that Cosby has been charged with a crime, though in recent years, he has been accused by more than 50 women of drugging and/or sexual misconduct. Cosby has repeatedly denied the claims. Only one other accuser, Kelly Johnson, was allowed to testify in this case. She took the stand Monday.
If convicted, Cosby faces up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
