An attorney defending Bill Cosby tried to undermine the actor’s accuser by suggesting that she had started a romantic relationship with him before he allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted her.
Andrea Constand, 44, brushed aside those suggestions as lawyer Angela Agrusa tried for a second day in a row to pick apart her testimony.
Constand took the stand on Tuesday to tell a jury in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania how the world-famous comedian deceived her into taking three blue pills that left her unable to move or speak. Once she was “frozen”, Cosby assaulted her with his fingers and groped her breasts, she said.
It was the first time Constand has ever told her story in such a public fashion. By the late afternoon, Agrusa was trying to explore inconsistencies between her testimony and what she told police when she reported a crime in 2005.
On Wednesday, Agrusa was trying a different tack, implying that Constand and Cosby’s relationship had been romantic in nature. Agrusa suggested that earlier dinners between Constand and Cosby had been intimate.
“You were sitting by the fire. The room was dark. There was a nice mood,” Agrusa said, summarizing Constand’s 2005 statement to police.
“I don’t know what that means,” Constand said.
“The lights were dim and the fire was going,” Agrusa continued.
“I don’t really remember how dim the lights were, but I did have to eat my dinner,” Constand replied.
Cosby and Constand met while Constand worked for the Temple University women’s basketball team and Cosby, the school’s most famous alumnus, was serving as a university trustee.
Constand testified Tuesday about two incidents with Cosby that foreshadowed the alleged assault.
Agrusa proposed that these incidents – on one occasion Cosby touched her thigh, and on another he tried to undo her pants – were signs of Cosby’s romantic interest.
Constand said she told Cosby she was not interested.
“So you knew – you were alone at his home – that Mr Cosby was interested in you romantically?” Agrusa asked.
“No, ma’am, he never said a word to me,” Constand said.
Cosby, 79, is charged with aggravated indecent assault. If convicted, the comedian once beloved as “America’s Dad” could receive a prison sentence of 10 years.
Beginning Tuesday, Agrusa also painstakingly reviewed Constand’s phone records and police statements, hoping to show she changed her mind about the date of the alleged assault and gave authorities an incomplete picture of her friendship with the TV star.
Constand was calm, direct and polite under cross-examination, even when Agrusa’s questioning grew pointed and accusatory. Cosby kept still, looking down at the defense table through most of the morning.
Cosby’s lawyers have argued that the sexual encounter with Constand was consensual and have cited phone records showing she called the TV star 53 times afterward, including one call several weeks after the alleged assault that lasted 20 minutes.
