Defense Witness Says Cosby Accuser Backtracked on Assault Claim
Jurors weighing sexual assault charges against Bill Cosby heard testimony from star defense witness Marguerite Jackson on Wednesday afternoon.
April 18, 2018 at 12:29 PM
3 minute read
Bill Cosby arrives for his sexual assault trial April 12, 2018, at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa. (Photo: Matt Slocum/AP)
Lawyers defending Bill Cosby against sexual assault allegations called their star witness Wednesday, who testified that accuser Andrea Constand told her in 2004 that she could profit by making false sexual assault allegations.
Cosby's lawyers called Marguerite Jackson, a longtime employee at Temple University, who said she roomed with Constand on multiple occasions while traveling with the school's women's basketball team.
On the stand, Jackson said she was watching television with Constand on one of those trips when a news report showed a high-profile figure being accused of sexual assault. Jackson testified that Constand said she had been sexually assaulted but did not report it because it was a high-profile figure and she couldn't prove the assault occurred.
“She said because it's a high-profile figure, and I can't fight that,” Jackson said.
Later in the conversation, Jackson testified, Constand said that she had not actually been assaulted, but she could say she was and get some money, quit her job and go back to school.
On cross-examination, Assistant District Attorney M. Stewart Ryan asked Jackson why she didn't tell anyone about the conversation until 2016, even when she knew there was a criminal investigation involving Cosby in 2005 and a civil case after that.
Ryan asked Jackson if she knew that Patrick O'Connor, chair of Temple's board of directors and co-founder of law firm Cozen O'Connor, was representing Cosby in the civil case. She said no.
After Jackson, the defense called Cosby's former personal chef and television writer Charles Kipps, who Cosby worked with on several projects. Both testified about meeting Constand through Cosby.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said his team plans to call one more expert Thursday who was not available until then, and has reached an agreement with the defense to allow for that. Otherwise, the prosecution in the Norristown retrial has rested.
Earlier on Wednesday, the jury heard testimony from prominent editor and publisher Judith Regan, a prosecution witness who in 2002 published a memoir by onetime supermodel Janice Dickinson.
Dickinson testified last week, telling the jury that Cosby drugged and raped her in the 1980s.
During Dickinson's testimony, the defense pointed out a number of apparent inconsistencies between her account to the jury and what was in her memoir, titled “No Lifeguard on Duty.” Dickinson said her publisher would not allow the rape allegations to be in the book.
Regan said on the stand Wednesday that Dickinson told her when they began working on the book that Cosby drugged and raped her. But after her company's legal team evaluated the account, they would not allow it to be in the book.
“Whenever she discussed the subject she was upset, she was angry,” Regan said. “She was very angry that we would not include it in the book.”
Also Wednesday, prosecutors recalled a detective who read from Cosby's 2005-2006 depositions, particularly excerpts relating to quaaludes. Cosby said in the deposition that he gave quaaludes to a woman to have sex with her.
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