Bill Cosby’s defense team was granted a victory on Tuesday when the judge said jurors could hear testimony painting his accuser as a gold digger, according to
Bill Cosby’s defense team was granted a victory on Tuesday when the judge said jurors could hear testimony painting his accuser as a gold digger, NBC News reports.
During the pre-trial hearing for his sexual assault case, Cosby’s lawyers were told they could call Marguerite Jackson who claimed that his accuser, Andrea Constand, once bragged to her that she could get money out of a celebrity by fabricating sex allegations against them. Jackson was not permitted to testify in Cosby’s first trial last year.
Cosby faces charge for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting Constand at his home in Philadelphia in 2004.
Judge Steven O’Neill also said that jurors could hear, for the first time ever, the details of the settlement reached in the 2006 civil lawsuit filed by Constand against Cosby. Up until now, the amount of money that the case was settled for was never disclosed.
Members of the jury at the retrial will also hear from an additional five women who have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct. At last year’s trial, the judge did not allow a handful of accusers to be included in the trial. The judge only permitted Constand and another woman, Kelly Johnson, to testify.
However, prosecutors did get one victory of their own Tuesday when O’Neill struck down the defense’s argument that prosecutors were eliminating older white men from the jury pool.
During jury selection on Tuesday, eight members were selected, with the final members believed to be picked by Wednesday. The trial is expected to last anywhere from two weeks to a month.
