NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Bill Cosby’s lawyer launched a blistering courtroom attack on the comedian’s accuser Tuesday, branding her a con artist whose goal was “money, money and lots more money.”
Tom Mesereau told jurors in his opening statement at the former TV star’s sex-assault trial that Andrea Constand wasn’t attracted to Cosby but was “madly in love” with his fame and money and made up the accusations to score a big payday.
He said she “hit the jackpot” when Cosby paid her $3.4 million more than a decade ago to settle her lawsuit over allegations he drugged and molested her in 2004.
Prosecutors say it was the “Cosby Show” star who betrayed Constand’s trust by giving her pills and then violating her at his suburban Philadelphia mansion. Cosby, 80, faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
A jury deadlocked at his first trial last spring, setting the stage for a retrial.
Seeking to blunt any skepticism about Constand’s behavior after the alleged assault, prosecutors called as their first witness Tuesday a sexual assault expert, Dr. Barbara Ziv, who told jurors that it is common for victims to be reluctant to go to police and normal for them to maintain contact with perpetrators.
Constand spoke with Cosby dozens of times after the alleged assault and waited more than a year before going to the police.
Ziv, a psychiatrist, also told jurors that the use of drugs and alcohol can lead to clouded memories and prevent victims from giving a clear account of what happened to them.
Some 60 women have come forward with allegations against Cosby dating to the 1960s. In a deposition he gave as part of Constand’s lawsuit, the long-married comedian acknowledged giving quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with.
In the deposition, Cosby said he gave Constand three half-tablets of the cold and allergy medicine Benadryl. Prosecutors have suggested he gave her something stronger — perhaps quaaludes, a popular party drug in the 1970s that was banned in the U.S. in 1982.
During his opening statement Monday, District Attorney Kevin Steele revealed the amount of Cosby’s settlement with Constand, in an apparent attempt to suggest the comedian wouldn’t have paid out so much money if the accusations against him were false.
Mesereau, who won an acquittal in Michael Jackson’s 2005 child molestation case, told the jury instead that Constand was in deep financial trouble and set out to exploit her relationship with Cosby.