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Heidi Thomas, an aspiring actress who met Cosby
for career coaching, testified on Tuesday that Cosby gave her
spiked wine that kept her stupefied for four days, and she awoke
to find him naked and attempting to force himself on her.
Her accusations are not the basis of the case as Cosby is on
trial on charges of assaulting another woman 20 years later. But
unlike in the first trial, which ended in a mistrial last year
when a deadlocked jury failed to reach a verdict, the judge is
allowing up to five other accusers to testify against Cosby.
The 80-year-old entertainer, once known as America's Dad for his
endearing role on the 1980s television hit "The Cosby Show," is
charged with aggravated indecent assault of Andrea Constand, now
44, in 2004. He denies wrongdoing, saying any sexual contact was
consensual, and his lawyers have portrayed Constand as a
money-grubbing con artist who falsified her claims. Cosby paid
her $3.4 million in 2006 to settle a civil lawsuit.
Defense lawyers on Wednesday will attempt to impeach the
credibility of Thomas, who told the court she was reading a
monologue of a character who was drunk when Cosby persuaded her
to drink white wine, and that she recalled "only snapshots" of
the next four days.
When she awoke, she said, she found Cosby naked, attempting to
force his penis into her mouth.
"I felt I must have said something that was misunderstood,"
Thomas said. "I wanted to fix it. Your reputation is everything.
It's easy to be accused of sleeping your way to the top. He said
he was going to be my mentor and I could call anytime if I
needed advice."
Cosby's defense lawyers briefly cross-examined Thomas on Tuesday
before court adjourned and were due to resume on Wednesday
morning.
Although some 50 women have accused Cosby of molestation, all
but one of the incidents were too old to be prosecuted.
(Reporting by David DeKok; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by
Cynthia Osterman)
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