“You’re basically here to tell us what somebody told you and another detective 11 years ago about an event that happened 12 years ago”, McMonagle said to Hart.
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The news that Bill Cosby, after years of attempts to discredit the legion of women who have accused him of rape, will stand trial for aggravated indecent sexual assault this summer is long overdue. Reporter: The defense argued that at no time did constand ever say no or tell Cosby to stop.
Cosby told her the pills would help her relax and “take the edge off”.
Constand told detectives “she felt paralyzed and couldn’t talk” during the alleged assault.
The third and final witness, a police sergeant, testified that Constand told him in a phone interview that the alleged assault may have been March 16, 2004; however, in another interview three days later, he said, she told him the assault may have been in January or February.
Constand’s decade-old police statement was used during the preliminary hearing so she did not need to testify. He said she was “incapacitated by her own hand, by her own drinking”.
The pioneering black comedian, who faces up to 10 years if convicted, kept his glance averted from onlookers as he left a county court house in Pennsylvania, dressed in a grey suit and floral tie, leaning on a member of his entourage. Her case is headed to a preliminary hearing Wednesday.
Mr. Cosby waived a formal arraignment, which means that he automatically enters a plea of not guilty. Meanwhile, Cosby’s defense attorney has slammed the decision to move forward with a trial.
While authorities in recent months have paraphrased her account and quoted fragments, this was apparently the first time that large sections of her statement or Cosby’s, for that matter were made public.
The confidential settlement bound both sides to secrecy, but a federal judge a year ago unsealed portions of Cosby’s deposition on a petition from The Associated Press.
Asked if he had sexual intercourse with Constand, Cosby said he had not – “neither asleep nor awake”. He chose to respond by suing the accusers for defamation, including Andrea Constand and her lawyers for tricking him and not complying with the mutual agreement on the first instance of the case.
Cosby settled her lawsuit for an undisclosed sum in 2006, after giving four days of testimony about his extramarital affairs and how he had given quaaludes, a sedative, to women. He has repeatedly denied all allegations of sexual misconduct.
Although dozens of women have publicly accused Cosby of assault dating back four decades, the vast majority of their claims can not be prosecuted because they have expired under statutes of limitations.
The exact trial date has not been set, but if Cosby is charged, he could face up to 30 years in prison. Right now, he is free on $1 million bail.
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The hearing was not the face-to-face confrontation between accuser and accused that some had anticipated: Constand was not in the courtroom, and the judge ruled that she would not have to testify and that prosecutors could instead have her statements to police read into the record.
