Bill Cosby trial judge delivers two big victories to defence
Posted April 2, 2018 9:22 pm.
Last Updated April 3, 2018 7:57 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — The judge in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault retrial gave his legal defense a huge boost Tuesday, ruling his lawyers can call a witness who says the accuser talked about framing a celebrity before she went to police in 2005 with allegations about the comedian.
Judge Steven O’Neill also helped the defense case by ruling that jurors can hear how much Cosby paid accuser Andrea Constand in a 2006 civil settlement.
O’Neill ruled that Marguerite Jackson can take the witness stand after he blocked her from testifying at the first trial — which ended in a hung jury — saying her testimony would be hearsay.
Jackson’s testimony is crucial to a defense plan to portray Constand as a greedy liar. Constand’s lawyer has said Jackson isn’t telling the truth. The judge issued one caveat to the ruling, saying he could revisit his decision after Constand’s testimony.
O’Neill also hinted during a pretrial hearing last week that he could keep jurors from hearing Cosby’s prior testimony in a deposition about giving quaaludes to women before sex. He said he won’t rule on that until it’s brought up at the retrial.
Tuesday’s rulings came ahead of the second day of jury selection in suburban Philadelphia. Cosby swung his cane and said, “Good morning, good morning,” as he walked into the courtroom.
Just one juror was seated as jury selection began Monday. Things moved at a far quicker pace on the opening day of Cosby’s first trial last spring, when five jurors were selected.
The young man picked as a retrial juror said he did not know anything about Cosby’s case. Nearly everyone else in the initial jury pool of 120 suburban Philadelphia residents indicated they knew about the charges against Cosby.
Three-quarters of them were sent home for cause — the majority because they said they already have formed an opinion about Cosby’s guilt or innocence.
That left just 27 people invited back for individual questioning on Tuesday as prosecutors and Cosby’s lawyers work to fill 17 remaining jury spots. Another group of 120 potential jurors also was also being brought in, in case they do not make the cut.
Meanwhile, The Associated Press and other news organizations filed a legal motion Tuesday to challenge an arrangement that forces reporters to watch the proceedings on a closed-circuit feed from another courtroom. The camera shows the judge, prosecutors and defense lawyers, but not potential jurors who are being questioned as a group.
