Cosby's Confidential Settlement Sum May Come Out at Trial
The amount Bill Cosby paid to Andrea Constand in 2006 after she sued him for sexual assault may finally be revealed in the coming weeks, as Cosby again stands trial in a criminal court case that began with jury selection on Monday.
April 03, 2018 at 11:11 AM
3 minute read
Bill Cosby, accompanied by Andrew Wyatt, departs after a pretrial hearing in Cosby's sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown on Aug. 22, 2017. Photo: Matt Rourke/AP
The amount Bill Cosby paid to Andrea Constand in 2006 after she sued him for sexual assault may finally be revealed in the coming weeks, as Cosby again stands trial in a criminal court case that began with jury selection on Monday.
In an order dated Monday and made public Tuesday morning, Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Steven T. O'Neill ruled that certain facts about the civil action Constand v. Cosby would be admitted as evidence at trial, including the monetary amount of settlement and the “four corners of the settlement agreement.”
The order represents a win for prosecutors, who had asked for admission of the civil case and settlement negotiations.
Also Monday, O'Neill granted Cosby's motion seeking to admit testimony from Marguerite Jackson. Jackson, according to the defense, is a former co-worker of Constand's who would testify that Constand once told Jackson she could lie about her alleged assault in order to secure a payout.
O'Neill also granted the prosecutors' motion to preclude evidence from two ongoing lawsuits involving Constand and former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor Jr.—Constand v. Castor and Castor v. Constand. Constand is suing Castor for defamation based on his statements about her accusations against Cosby. And Castor is suing Constand, alleging that she brought the defamation suit in order to destroy Castor's political career.
Castor made the decision in 2005 not to prosecute Cosby based on Constand's allegations. He has said that he did so in part because he thought Constand would be better off filing a civil lawsuit. His complaint referred to the 2006 settlement as a “multimillion-dollar resolution.”
Both sides have filed many motions in limine leading up to the retrial. Late last week, O'Neill denied a motion by the defense seeking his recusal from the case, which the defense had sought on the basis of O'Neill's wife's activism on behalf of sexual assault victims.
Jury selection in Cosby's retrial is underway, having begun Monday, and opening arguments are set to begin April 9. The proceedings are reportedly expected to last about a month, and jurors are to be sequestered throughout the trial.
The first criminal trial took place last June. It ended with a hung jury, and O'Neill declared a mistrial.
A spokesman for Cosby's legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning. Neither did a spokeswoman for the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.
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