PENNSYLVANIA
Variety
April 18, 2018
By Emilie Lounsberry
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — The defense in the sexual assault retrial of Bill Cosby began its case on Wednesday morning and is poised to call a witness it hopes will cast a giant hole in the credibility of the woman who has testified that the comedian drugged and molested her back in 2004.
Just before the lunch break at Cosby’s retrial outside of Philadelphia, defense lawyer Kathleen Bliss announced that Margo Jackson, a key defense witness, will take the stand.
The defense has said in court papers that Jackson has told the defense team that Andrea Constand, the woman at the center of the criminal case against the entertainer, once remarked that she could say she had been sexually assaulted by someone famous in order to get a big financial settlement.
The prosecution, meanwhile, essentially wrapped up its case on Wednesday morning, although the jury is expected to hear from both a prosecution toxicology expert and a defense toxicology expert on Thursday.
The prosecution ended its case with more testimony about what Cosby said in a deposition in the civil lawsuit brought by Constand, including the entertainer’s admission that he used to give quaaludes to women before sex. Constand ultimately received a financial settlement of nearly $3.4 million from Cosby.
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