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*Good Lord! Holy Moly! That pretty much sums up our response when we learned that the embattled Bill Cosby shelled out sexual assault accuser Andrea Constand $3.5 million in hush money back in 2006.
The revelation comes as Cosby, 80, faces an April retrial on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of Constand. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
This would seem to put Cosby in a precarious position. That’s because, at his previous trial last summer, in which jurors failed to reach a verdict, his defense strategy was to simply deny the assault ever happened. Now he wants jurors to believe that Constand was only after money when she brought her allegations.
As we reported earlier, Constand settled with Cosby after former Montgomery County DA Bruce Castor declined to bring charges in 2006, citing problems with evidence and Constand’s credibility. Castor said he encouraged her to seek “civil remedies.”
But things flipped when Castor’s successor, Kevin R. Steele, took office in 2016. Unfortunately for Cosby, Steele was not bound by Castor’s decision or the civil settlement. Steele, believing that Cosby not only drugged and assaulted Constand, but also has a pattern of such misconduct, opted to bring new criminal charges.
“That man,” Steele said, pointing to Cosby in court, “is a serial abuser. He selects his victims, he gives them an intoxicant and he assaults them.”
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Constand, now 44, previously testified she considered Cosby a mentor. But during a visit to his home, she claims, he plied her with three blue pills and told her to have some wine.
“My vision became blurry and I could hardly speak,” Constand said. “I became frozen and paralyzed, and he was touching my breasts and put his hands down my pants,” she said, adding that he penetrated her vagina with his fingers before placing her hand on his erect penis.
Meanwhile, Cosby – who of course is married – continues to say that his relationship with Constand was consensual and only soured after he failed to get her a gig as a sportscaster for the 2004 Olympics.
As far as the new trial in April, Cosby’s defense team hopes to convince jurors to realize that the $3.5 million payout to Constand was paid to rid Cosby of a “nuisance” lawsuit and not an admission of guilt.
source: Page Six
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