NORRISTOWN, Pa. _ The payment that Bill Cosby made to Andrea Constand to settle a civil lawsuit over sex-assault claims can be shared with jurors at the entertainer's trial, a Montgomery County judge ruled Tuesday.
The 2006 settlement _ kept confidential for more than a decade and as Cosby's first trial ended with a hung jury in June _ will be disclosed publicly for the first time at Cosby's retrial on charges he drugged and molested Constand.
But in his ruling, Judge Steven T. O'Neill said details of the contentious settlement negotiation process won't be aired, rejecting a request from prosecutors to include those details if the settlement agreement was deemed admissible. They said the process included requests from Cosby that Constand and her lawyers destroy their records of the case and refuse to cooperate with law enforcement officials.
The order marked a victory for Cosby's defense laywers, who have said they plan to portray Constand as a liar who was eager to earn money by making a false claim against the celebrity once known as "America's Dad."
O'Neill also ruled Tuesday that the defense can call as a witness a former coworker of Constand's who says she once boasted about plans to earn money by accusing a famous person of sexual assault. Marguerite Jackson worked with the Temple University women's basketball team at the same time as Constand; her testimony was barred from Cosby's first trial. That ruling is subject to change based on Constand's testimony, O'Neill said. She testified at the first trial that she did not know Jackson.
Tuesday's rulings came as O'Neill and lawyers on both sides began a second day of jury selection in Norristown. They selected one juror on Monday, while more than half of potential jurors said they already had a fixed opinion about the case.
Also Tuesday, O'Neill ruled that lawyers may not mention at trial the pending lawsuits between Constand and Bruce L. Castor Jr., the former district attorney who declined to file charges against Cosby in 2005. He also put off a decision on whether to allow witnesses who could corroborate accusations made by five other women who will testify against Cosby at trial; O'Neill said he would make a decision once the trial is underway.
