NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - The Latest on the sexual assault case against Bill Cosby (all times local):
4:45 p.m.
Bill Cosby’s lawyer has dug into the 20-year-old memory of a woman who says Bill Cosby drugged and violated her at a Los Angeles hotel bungalow as Cosby’s sex assault trial got off to a contentious start.
The defense says Kelly Johnson has mixed up the years and other details of her encounters with Cosby. And they question why she never said anything before she stopped working for his agent at the William Morris Agency.
Johnson says she was afraid to lodge an accusation against the agency’s biggest client and one of the world’s biggest stars.
Defense lawyer Brian McMonagle is questioning Johnson about a 1996 deposition she gave, apparently in a worker’s compensation complaint.
He says she testified then that she met Cosby at the bungalow in 1990. But on Monday she says it was 1996.
Johnson says she was upset giving the deposition but concedes her memory was probably better then.
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3:30 p.m.
A woman who says Bill Cosby drugged and violated her at a Los Angeles hotel bungalow two decades ago is testifying in his sexual assault trial.
Kelly Johnson wiped back tears Monday as she described the 1996 encounter. She said she lost consciousness soon after Cosby pressured her to take a large white pill.
Johnson, then in her mid-30s, said her next memory was of waking up on a bed with her dress yanked down and her breasts exposed. She said Cosby then put lotion on her hand and make her manipulate his genitals.
Cosby’s trial stems from an alleged assault on another woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004, but prosecutors were allowed to call Johnson as a witness because her allegations are similar.
The Associated Press does not usually identify people who say they are the victims of sexual assault, but Johnson’s lawyer, Gloria Allred, said her name can be used.
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1 p.m.
Bill Cosby’s TV daughter says she’s at a suburban Philadelphia courtroom on the first day of the actor’s sexual assault trial to show support.
Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played the 79-year-old comedian’s youngest daughter, Rudy, on the top-rated “Cosby Show,” said during Monday’s court lunch break that “ultimately it’s about standing by your truth.” And, she said, her truth was to be at court and to be supportive.
Cosby is accused of giving a Temple University employee drugs and then sexually assaulting her.
Knight Pulliam says it’s not always easy to do what you feel is right when there is so much controversy, but she leads her life trying to be “genuine and authentic.”
Knight Pulliam says she doesn’t condone any form of sexual assault and that she’s sensitive to the gravity of the charges against Cosby, given her Kamp Kizzy Foundation’s mission to promote self-esteem, empowerment and motivation in girls. She says she’s praying for everyone involved.
She says the job is for the two sides to prove their cases and that she’ll accept whatever verdict is handed down.
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12:30 p.m.
Bill Cosby’s defense lawyer is diving straight in to attack the accuser over alleged inconsistencies in her statements to police as the actor’s sex assault trial opens in suburban Philadelphia.
Defense lawyer Brian McMonagle says Monday that accuser Andrea Constand first told police they had never spoken after the encounter. And, that she changed the date from mid-March to mid-January of 2004.
McMonagle says that phone records show the two spoke 72 times after mid-January - and two-thirds of the calls were initiated by Constand.
McMonagle says Cosby and Constand had sipped drinks by a fire and had other romantic encounters. He says Cosby also hoped to help her rethink her career. And, he says Cosby gave her the pills only after she complained of having trouble sleeping. He says he gave her Benadryl, which he says Cosby also took on the road when he couldn’t sleep.
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12:15 p.m.
Prosecutors are telling jurors in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial that the actor has already admitted sexually violating an unconscious woman more than a decade ago.
Assistant District Attorney Kristen Feden’s opening statement in a suburban Philadelphia courtroom Monday relied heavily on Cosby’s past deposition testimony about his 2004 encounter with Andrea Constand, including admissions that he gave her pills and touched her genitals as she lay on his couch.
Feden says there is no better window into Cosby’s motives and methods than his own words.
Feden said Constand will testify, along with another woman who says Cosby drugged and assaulted her in a similar fashion in 1996.
Feden told jurors that in both cases Cosby used his power and fame and a practiced method of placing a young, trusting woman in an incapacitated state so that he could sexually pleasure himself, “so that she couldn’t say no.”
Prosecutors had wanted to call as many as 13 of Cosby’s more than 60 accusers as witnesses, but judge Steven O’Neill ruled only Constand and the other woman could take the stand.
Cosby is charged with three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault and a conviction could put him in prison for the rest of his life.
Feden tells jurors the case centered on three factors: trust, betrayal and Constand’s inability to consent.
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10:30 a.m.
The judge in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial has given the jury an hour of instructions, reminding them not to glance at news updates on their cellphones.
The 79-year-old Cosby is accused of giving a Temple University employee drugs and then sexually assaulting her. It is the only criminal case to emerge from the dozens of sexual assault allegations lodged against the actor.
The jury for the trial that started Monday at a suburban Philadelphia courthouse is sequestered at a nearby hotel. The trial is expected to last two weeks.
The 12-member jury, which was selected from the Pittsburgh area, includes seven men and five women, along with six alternates.
Lawyers are set to give opening statements to the jury outlining their case.
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9:45 a.m.
One of the spectators at the first day of Bill Cosby’s sex assault trial is attorney Gloria Allred, who says that she’s hopeful “there will be justice in this case.”
The 79-year-old comedian is accused of giving a Temple University employee drugs and then sexually assaulting her.
Allred represents a woman who worked for Cosby’s agent at the William Morris agency. She will be the only other accuser allowed to testify for the prosecution.
Allred’s client says she had known Cosby for six years when he invited her to lunch at his bungalow at the Bel Air Hotel in 1996 to discuss her career. She says he gave her wine and a pill and then sexually assaulted her.
Cosby’s lawyers have questioned why she went to the bungalow.
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9:35 a.m.
Bill Cosby arrived for the first day of his sexual assault trial with actress Keshia Knight Pulliam.
Pulliam played Cosby’s youngest daughter, Rudy Huxtable, on “The Cosby Show.”
The pair walked arm-in-arm past dozens of cameras and into the Montgomery County courthouse Monday morning. The 79-year-old Cosby smiled but said nothing when someone asked how he was feeling.
Cosby goes on trial Monday in the only criminal case to emerge from the dozens of sexual assault allegations lodged against him.
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9 a.m.
The first day of Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial has the usual trappings of a high-profile trial. The only thing missing was the crowd.
A television news helicopter buzzed overhead, photographers and their step ladders pressed against bicycle-rack barricades and the street outside the courthouse in Montgomery County is lined with television trucks.
Just as during his pretrial appearances, the day attracted a few gawkers - including a man who asked the 79-year-old actor for his thoughts on President Donald Trump’s “possible collusion with the Russians.”
One man in the media contingent brought several boxes of doughnuts and jugs of coffee for his colleagues.
Cosby goes on trial Monday in the only criminal case to emerge from the dozens of sexual assault allegations lodged against him.
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8:40 a.m.
Bill Cosby has arrived at a suburban Philadelphia courthouse for the start of his sexual assault trial.
The 79-year-old Cosby showed up at the Montgomery County courthouse at about 8:40 a.m. Monday amid a large media presence.
Cosby’s life and legacy are on the line when his accuser takes the stand in the only criminal case to emerge from the dozens of sexual assault allegations lodged against the actor. The former college basketball manager says Cosby drugged and assaulted her in 2004.
Cosby says he had a romantic relationship with her. She will tell her story in public for the first time when she testifies.
Those involved in the case worry about duplicating the media frenzy that dominated O.J. Simpson’s murder trial.
Cameras are banned in Pennsylvania courtrooms. The jury will be sequestered for the estimated two-week trial.
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12:15 a.m.
Bill Cosby goes on trial Monday in the only criminal case to emerge from the dozens of sexual assault allegations lodged against him.
Cosby’s image as a father and family man helped fuel his extraordinary, 50-year career in entertainment.
The 79-year-old actor’s life and legacy are on the line when his accuser takes the stand. The former college basketball manager says Cosby drugged and assaulted her in 2004.
Cosby says he had a romantic relationship with her. She will tell her story in public for the first time when she testifies.
The suburban Philadelphia trial judge hopes to keep the media from dominating the case the way it did O.J. Simpson’s 1995 murder trial.
Cameras are banned in Pennsylvania courtrooms. The jury will be sequestered for the estimated two-week trial.
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