The prosecution took a week to lay out its case that comedian Bill Cosby drugged and assaulted Andrea Constand, calling 12 witnesses. The defense was much briefer; Cosby did not take the stand.
Jury deliberations have begun in the sexual assault trial of comedian Bill Cosby, after the prosecution and defense presented their closing arguments on Monday. Cosby is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home near Philadelphia in 2004. Cosby has been accused of raping or assaulting dozens of women, often after offering or slipping them drugs. By the time the stories became public knowledge, the statute of limitations had expired on most of the cases; Constand’s case is an exception. The Associated Press provides some background: Last week the prosecution spent days laying out the case against Cosby, calling 12 witnesses to the stand. As NPR reported last week, telling her story in public for the first time. She spent nearly seven hours on the stand over two days, as Cosby’s attorneys. On Monday, the defense moved through its case — quickly, reports Laura Benshoff of member station WHYY. « Cosby’s lawyers spent only a few minutes asking a local detective whether or not he was aware of the entertainer’s vision problems in 2005, » Benshoff reports: Cosby did not take the stand, and the defense rested after just one witness. Constand was in the courtroom for the defense’s closing arguments on Monday, as was Cosby’s wife, Camille Cosby, Reuters reports: Prosecutors said that Cosby, at his deposition more than a decade ago, admitted to giving Constand pills (Cosby said it was Benadryl) and touching her sexually. « Ladies and gentlemen, he has told you what he has done, » District Attorney Kevin Steele said in his closing argument, according to Reuters. « It is about as straightforward as you are ever going to see in a sex crimes case. … If you have sexual relations with somebody when they’re out, when they’re asleep, when they’re unconscious, that is a crime. » If convicted, Cosby could spend the rest of his life in prison, the AP notes.
