NORRISTOWN, Pa. – Bill Cosby was more than just a television star to the family of Kelly Johnson, a woman who worked for the famed entertainer’s personal appearances agent.
By Manuel Roig-Franzia, (c) 2017, The Washington Post
NORRISTOWN, Pa. – Bill Cosby was more than just a television star to the family of Kelly Johnson, a woman who worked for the famed entertainer’s personal appearances agent.
He was a role model to the parents of Johnson, who would later accuse Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her.
“She was very proud to introduce us to Mr. Cosby, ” Johnson’s mother, Patrice Sewell, testified Tuesday during day two of the comic legend’s sex assault trial.
Sewell and her husband were fans of “The Cosby Show, ” which focused on the life of an upper-middle-class African-American family.
“We really related to that show, ” said Sewell, a retired educator with a PhD who testified Tuesday. “It kind of reminded us of our own family.”
The testimony of Sewell marks an important moment in the case against Cosby: prosecutors need her to bolster the testimony of her daughter, the star witness from day one of the trial on Monday. The former talent agency worker testified that Cosby pressured her to take a white pill during a lunch at his bungalow at the Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles in the 1990s, and she awoke in bed with him with her breasts exposed.
Johnson is a vital witness because prosecutors need her to establish a pattern of behavior by Cosby, who is charged with sexually assaulting another woman, Andrea Constand, in 2004.
Prosecutors also got a significant boost from testimony late Tuesday morning by Joseph Miller, an attorney involved in a worker’s compensation claim filed by Johnson in the 1990s. Miller, a former chief workers compensation appellate judge for the state of California, testified in graphic detail about what Johnson alleged about the incident with Cosby. Importantly, for the prosecution, his memory of Johnson’s allegations precisely matched the former talent agency worker’s testimony the day before.
Miller said Johnson told him that Cosby had “taken out his penis and wanted her to fondle him. She didn’ t want to do that.”
Johnson was involved in a worker’s compensation claim because she suspected that William Morris officials had wrongly fired her. And she blamed Cosby.
Johnson’s mother testified that she received a distressing phone call from her daughter in 1996.
“Mommy, something is going on, ” Sewell said her daughter told her. “They’ re telling lies about me. Mr. Cosby is trying to get rid of me. I’ m scared.”
Sewell, a poised and confident presence, spoke in measured tone, often turning to address the jury directly – a contrast with her daughter, who appeared vulnerable and fragile during hours of questioning on Monday.
Cosby’s attorneys have been intent on crushing Johnson’s credibility by suggesting that her attorney, Gloria Allred, coached her about what to say in her public statements about Cosby. But both Johnson and Sewell firmly rejected the suggestion, saying that Johnson – not her attorney – wrote the detailed news releases about her Cosby allegations.
Sewell’s testimony marked the first major appearance of Cosby’s high-powered Los Angeles attorney, Angela Agrusa, who is best known for work in corporate cases. Agrusa delivered questions in a calm, emotionless, non-threatening manner – a contrast to the aggressive and confrontational approach used the day before by Cosby attorney Brian McMonagle, who handled the cross-examination of Johnson.
Agrusa, however, was frustrated in her efforts to suggest that Johnson was fired because of her own actions. During her questioning, Agrusa suggested that Johnson lost her job because she’ d been socializing with William Morris clients, including Maxie Priest, a musician and actor with whom she had a child.
That line of questioning drew an angry objection from prosecutors. And Judge Steven T. O’ Neill agreed that Agrusa was out of line. He told jurors not to consider what Agrusa was saying to be evidence. Moments later, Agrusa, a look of frustration on her face, clapped a binder of documents shut and returned to the defense table.
