The fatigue from Saturday’s mistrial has hardly faded for either side in the Bill Cosby sexual assault case, but both need to begin preparing almost immediately for a new trial that the prosecution has vowed to bring.
Judge Steven T. O’Neill has said a second trial would begin within months and, if the case just concluded is any measure, they will be months filled with motions and countermotions as each side jockeys for an edge.
Andrea Constand, who said Mr. Cosby sexually assaulted her in 2004 at his home outside Philadelphia, has agreed to take the stand again in Norristown, Pa., where the first trial occurred.
“We will evaluate and review our case,” said the Montgomery County district attorney, Kevin R. Steele, after the trial. “We will take a hard look at everything involved, and then we will retry it.”
The prosecution needs to examine, among other things, whether it can introduce testimony from other women who say Mr. Cosby assaulted them. It had tried to introduce 13 accusers as evidence of a pattern of sexual assault, but Judge O’Neill, before the trial, allowed only one to testify: Kelly Johnson.
“The pretrial decision that limited the testimony of other Cosby accusers is probably the reason the case ended in a mistrial,” said Kevin Harden Jr., a criminal defense attorney and a former Philadelphia prosecutor.
Complicating matters further for the prosecution, Ms. Johnson seemed hesitant on the witness stand.
“Kelly Johnson was a somewhat tentative witness, which — while understandable, given the gravity and attention to the case — may have lessened the impact of her testimony,” said Dennis McAndrews, a former prosecutor who attended the trial.
But he said witnesses were often stronger and less intimidated their second time on the stand.Mr. Steele said Saturday that he had not spoken with Ms. Johnson about a second trial nor had he decided whether to renew the fight to include testimony from…
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