Cosby attorneys highlight sex assault accuser's 'confusion'

[June 07, 2017]   By Joseph Ax

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (Reuters) - Attorneys for Bill Cosby turned their attention to early discrepancies in statements by the woman who has accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2004, as they sought to discredit prosecutors' star witness.

Andrea Constand, a former basketball coach at the entertainer's alma mater, Temple University, took the stand on Tuesday at the trial where Cosby, 79, faces criminal sex abuse charges.

While dozens of women have come forward in recent years to accuse the man best known as the star of the 1980s TV hit family comedy "The Cosby Show," Constand's accusation is the only one to result in a trial because the other cases are too old.

Cosby has denied all wrongdoing.

Cosby's legal team highlighted erroneous statements she made to police in 2005 when she first reported the incident, including that she had never been alone with Cosby before the alleged 2004 attack. The case's outcome will likely hinge on whether the jury believes her account, as Cosby himself does not plan to testify.

"I think I've stated on the record that there was a lot of confusion trying to put a lot of dates together," Constand said in response to a question by defense lawyer Angela Agrusa.

"You didn't tell them the truth," Agrusa charged.

"I told them the truth," Constand replied. "I also testified earlier that I was also really nervous and I wasn't able to recall every particular moment that I had seen Mr. Cosby."

Constand testified that Cosby had given her three blue pills when she visited him at his home in the Philadelphia suburbs, which left her unable to resist when he sexually assaulted her.

"I was trying to get my hands to move, my legs to move, but I was frozen," Constand said. Her testimony came a day after another woman who has accused Cosby of sex assault, Kelly Johnson, told the jury that he had given her an unidentified pill before sexually assaulting her.

That incident took place in a Los Angeles hotel room. Johnson testified that Cosby assaulted her in 1996, but a lawyer who was involved in a related investigation told the jury that Johnson in an earlier deposition said it occurred in 1990.

Constand's testimony is expected to continue when the trial resumes in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday.

(Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)

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