A Pennsylvania judge dealt a staggering blow to prosecutors in the Bill Cosby sexual assault case on Friday, ruling that 12 of 13 women the state had hoped to call as witnesses of the comedian’s past alleged misconduct cannot appear at his trial.
The decision by Judge Steven T. O’Neill severely limits the ability of prosecutors to demonstrate a long-standing pattern of behavior by Cosby. But it did not completely cut off their options to bolster their case. In his one-page order, the judge said one woman, a former assistant to Cosby’s personal appearances agent identified as Victim No. 6, would be allowed to testify.
Cosby faces felony charges for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former employee of the Temple women’s basketball team, at his suburban Philadelphia estate in 2004. The trial is scheduled to begin in June in Norristown, Pa.
The woman whom prosecutors were cleared to call as a witness in the case alleges that she first met Cosby in 1990, according to court documents. She says she was 29 at the time and that Cosby mentored her and gave her career advice. She alleges that the entertainer invited her to his hotel and his home, and once she brought along her children.
Prosecutors say Cosby used his fame and notoriety to gain her trust. In 1996, according to a document filed by prosecutors, the woman was invited to Cosby’s bungalow. He gave her red wine and offered a white pill, the documents state.
When she resisted taking the pill, the documents state, Cosby told her: “Would I give you anything to hurt you?” Cosby, according to prosecutors, went to great lengths to make sure she ingested the pill, demanding that she “open her mouth and lift her tongue.”
After taking the pill, the woman slipped in and out of consciousness, the documents state. She remembers her breasts and vagina being exposed, and says that Cosby used her hand to masturbate him.
Cosby has denied sexually assaulting women.
(c) 2017, The Washington Post
