Opening statements for Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial began Monday in Norristown. During opening arguments, both lawyers told the jurors to, “forget all they know about the man sitting at the defense table,” the Inquirer reported.
He arrived at the Montgomery Courthouse Monday morning alongside Keshia Knight Pulliam, the actress who played the youngest daughter of Cosby’s character, Cliff Huxtable, in “The Cosby Show,” the Inquirer reported.
Andrea Constand, a former university employee, is the central accuser in the case against Cosby.
During arguments, Cosby’s lawyer Brian McMonagle cited “inconsistencies in Constand’s story,” like Constand changing the date of when the assault took place and alleging the two had no communication after the assault, but phone records proved Constand had been in contact with Cosby multiple times over the phone, the Associated Press reported.
Kristen Feden, the prosecutor, told jurors that these were the defense’s “attempts to discredit Constand,” the Inquirer reported.
Feden also told jurors that she would “expose the 79-year-old entertainer as a manipulative predator who traded his celebrity for sex,” the Inquirer reported.
According to the AP, Constand is expected to testify next week, along with another woman who is accusing Cosby of drugging and assaulting her in 1996.
Cosby attended Temple in the 1970’s, and later received an honorary doctorate and worked as a trustee for the university. Constand was the director of operations for the women’s basketball team at the time of the alleged assault in 2004.
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
Kelly Brennan can be reached at kelly.brennan@temple.edu or on Twitter @_kellybrennan.
Be the first to comment