Author: Natalie Hope McDonald / Source: Vulture
It isn’t often that the prosecution and defense teams can agree on anything in court, but in the case of the felony sex-assault trial against Bill Cosby, they both seem to acknowledge that this is certainly one of the most famous cases of “he said, she said” of our time.
Since Cosby’s closely watched retrial kicked off at the Montgomery County Courthouse near Philadelphia on Monday, lawyers on both sides of the aisle have given us a better idea of what we can likely expect in the next few weeks. It was also confirmed publicly for the first time yesterday that Cosby did, indeed, pay his accuser Andrea Constand millions of dollars in alleged hush money in advance of the trial.The picture painted of Constand by the prosecution and defense couldn’t be more different. Because Constand, who has accused the 80-year-old comedian of drugging and sexually assaulting her in his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004, will once again be a key witness in the retrial (she testified last year in the first trial which ended in a hung jury), she naturally became the sharp focus of opening arguments. While the prosecution is calling Constand a victim of a rich, famous, and ultimately privileged man, the defense is attempting to paint Cosby as the real victim in the case.
DA Kevin Steele is resting much of his case on the whopping $3.28 million settlement Cosby paid Constand in 2006, money that he said was used to help the entertainer avoid criminal penalty and any media fallout that could have negatively impacted his career.
He says it points to Cosby’s guilt.Also on the mind of the prosecution: #MeToo. Only two days into the retrial and the climate already feels different from last time, and the stakes much higher. In some ways Cosby has become the poster boy for #MeToo, as a powerful man that many victims hope will have to face serious legal consequences for sexual assault, which could include jail time. If convicted, Cosby could face ten years for each of three possible felony charges.
Stuart Slotnick, a criminal defense attorney at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney in Philadelphia, said observers shouldn’t underestimate the cultural climate during this case. “There is more of a sensitivity to claims of abuse against women, and this could only be detrimental to Cosby’s defense,” he explained. “April 2018 is not the best time to try a case such as Cosby’s.”
In many ways this case can be broken down to one word: rape. It’s a word that’s taken on new weight in an era when more victims are coming forward and several of Cosby’s accusers are sitting in front of him in the courtroom. It’s a word that Steele used repeatedly to…
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