Cosby Retrial Judge Allows Testimony On Quaaludes
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- In a bombshell ruling in Bill Cosby's criminal retrial, the court decided the jury can hear Cosby's deposition testimony from 2005 where he admitted to giving Quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with.
Arm-in-arm with his publicist Andrew Wyatt, Cosby appeared to be in good spirits as he arriveed for day number seven of his criminal retrial. The 80-year-old actor and comedian is facing three felony charges of aggravated indecent assault. All three charges stem from the same alleged incident.
Prosecutors said Cosby sexually assaulted Andrea Constand at his Montgomery County home in 2004.
During this retrial, the jury learned Cosby paid Constand $3.38 million to settle a civil lawsuit she filed in 2005. Before the case settled, Cosby was deposed in preparation for a trial. There, he said he got prescriptions for Quaaludes from his doctor for a sore back, but never took them.
Constand's attorney asked him, "When you got the Quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these Quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with?" Cosby replied, "Yes."
Constand's attorney asked, "Did you ever give any of those young women the Quaaludes without their knowledge?" Cosby's attorney objected and advised him not to answer the question.
Cosby's defense team tried to keep these statements out of the retrial. They argued to the court, the statements are irrelevant because there is no evidence Cosby gave Constand the now-banned drug.
When she took the stand, Constand told the jury Cosby gave her three blue pills and not long after she was jolted awake by the feeling of him sexually violating her. She told the jury she wanted it to stop, but was unable to speak or fight him off. According to police, Cosby told them he gave Constand Benadryl to help her relax. The defense team is expected to call a toxicologist to refute Constand's claims.
Constand's mother also took the stand. She told the jury she had a phone call with Cosby in 2005 where apologized for his behavior and said he was a "sick man."