Early in his retrial, the jury in the Bill Cosby sexual assault case learned that Cosby had agreed to a $3.3 million settlement with accuser Andrea Constand –information that was not available to the prosecution during the first trial. In another blow to the defense, the judge ruled Tuesday that the jury can consider as evidence Cosby’s 2005 admission of drugging women with Quaaludes prior to assaulting them. Per CNN:
Judge Steven O’Neill’s decision came amid a more than hourlong hearing, during which the jury was not present. The hearing dealt with attorney-client privilege, Fifth Amendment concerns and Cosby’s defense team’s plans to call one of Constand’s civil attorneys to the stand, as well as a toxicologist who will dispute her account of how the drugs affected her.
According to Constand, a former Temple University employee, Cosby acted as her mentor and gained her trust prior to assaulting her in 2004. Cosby’s admission of drugging women was ruled admissible during Cosby’s first trial as well, and this second jury has also heard Cosby’s prior admissions of fondling Constand, although he maintains that their encounters were consensual.
In the aforementioned admission, which comes from a 2005 civil suit deposition, Cosby says he acquired the Quaaludes to give to women he wanted to have sex with, but when his attorney objected, Cosby evaded a question as to whether or not he gave the women drugs without their knowledge after his attorney objected. Per Deadline, the jury will also hear about Cosby’s behavior during the original investigation, including potentially lying to police as well as expressing fears about a telephone call with Constand’s mother being recorded.