NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - The Latest on the sexual assault case against Bill Cosby (all times local):
10 p.m.
Lawyers for Bill Cosby now have the task of convincing jurors that the 79-year-old entertainer did not drug and molest a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
The prosecution rested its case on Friday after five days of testimony. Andrea Constand testified this week that Cosby gave her pills that made her woozy. He contends the sexual encounter was consensual.
Jurors heard excerpts Friday from Cosby’s decade-old testimony in a related civil suit about how he gave quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with. It’s unclear if he will take the witness stand. The defense will begin its case on Monday.
If convicted, Cosby could spend the rest of his life in prison.
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4:20 p.m.
Bill Cosby is all smiles as he walks out of court, raising his wooden cane to salute well-wishers after the prosecution rested its case in his sexual assault trial.
People yelled, “We love you Bill Cosby,” and “Hey, hey, hey,” the catchphrase from Cosby’s “Fat Albert” TV show, as the comedian left the courthouse Friday. He waved from the back of an SUV with its window half down.
The 79-year-old entertainer is charged with drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. He says the sexual encounter with Andrea Constand was consensual.
Cosby didn’t respond when The Associated Press asked if he’ll take the stand in his own defense. His spokesman says it’s under consideration.
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3:50 p.m.
Prosecutors have rested their case against Bill Cosby on the fifth day of his sexual-assault trial.
The 79-year-old entertainer could spend the rest of his life in prison if he’s convicted of drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. He says the sexual encounter with Andrea Constand was consensual.
Constand testified this week that Cosby gave her pills that made her woozy, then violated her. Cosby has said he gave Constand the cold and allergy medicine Benadryl to help her relax, but prosecutors have suggested he drugged her with something stronger.
Jurors heard excerpts Friday from Cosby’s decade-old testimony in a related civil suit about how he gave quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with.
Cosby’s lawyers will present his side of the story before jurors get the case.
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3:15 p.m.
Jurors in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case are listening to his testimony about getting quaaludes in the 1970s to give to young women before sex.
Prosecutors plan to close their case Friday afternoon after five days of testimony.
Cosby is on trial for allegedly drugging and molesting a woman at his home near Philadelphia in 2004.
He says in the deposition that he no longer had quaaludes at that time. Prosecutors have suggested he could have.
Cosby says he gave the trial accuser only Benadryl.
In the deposition, he admits giving quaaludes before sex in 1976 to one of his approximately 60 accusers. She was in the courtroom Friday.
Prosecutors reopened the case after his deposition was unsealed in 2015 and arrested Cosby just before the 12-year deadline to file charges.
The defense is expected to present its case next week.
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1:15 p.m.
Bill Cosby’s spokesman is dangling the possibility that the 79-year-old comedian may testify at his sexual assault trial after all.
Andrew Wyatt told reporters during a lunch break on Friday that Cosby’s team was still evaluating whether to have him take the stand.
Cosby said before the trial that he wouldn’t testify, but Wyatt said that could change now that the prosecution is nearing the end of its case.
It’s the first time Wyatt has spoken at length to reporters since the trial began.
Wyatt says Cosby was listening closely as accuser Andrea Constand testified this week, and that he’s confident his lawyers will show they were in a consensual, romantic relationship.
Wyatt says some members of Cosby’s family will join him in court as the trial wears on. He says Cosby told wife Camille to stay away from the courthouse so she didn’t have to endure the “media circus.”
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12:45 p.m.
Bill Cosby’s lawyers asked for a mistrial but were rejected after they say a prosecution sex assault expert was trying to convict the comedian from the witness stand.
Cosby’s lawyers argued Veronique Valliere’s testimony on Friday included observations that seemed tailored to Cosby’s case.
They say the psychologist was only allowed to speak generally about victim behavior at Cosby’s trial stemming from allegations he drugged and molested a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
Cosby’s lawyers say Valliere’s past social-media posts have shown a pro-prosecution bias.
Valliere had told jurors that an offender’s celebrity status can have a chilling effect on victims and that all victims experience shock and disbelief when they’re violated by someone they know.
She testified that such victims often fear they’ll face backlash for harming a well-known person’s reputation if they come forward.
Cosby accuser Andrea Constand waited a year to go to police.
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11 a.m.
Bill Cosby told lawyers in a 2005 civil deposition that he only apologized for giving a woman pills and fondling her because he thought her mother saw him as a “dirty old man with a young girl.”
Prosecutors on Friday are in their second day of reading deposition excerpts to jurors at Cosby’s sex assault trial.
In the excerpts, Cosby spoke about apologizing to Andrea Constand and her mother during a telephone conversation about a year after Constand says he drugged and violated her.
Constand’s mother repeatedly asked Cosby what were in the pills. Cosby refused to answer and said he’d send them in the mail.
Cosby testified in the deposition he thought he’d caused trouble because he was 66 at the time and Constand was 30.
Constand had gone to police with her sex assault allegations days before the January 2005 phone conversation, but Cosby was not yet aware of that.
Cosby maintains the encounter at his suburban Philadelphia home was consensual.
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8:40 a.m.
Bill Cosby has arrived at a suburban Philadelphia courthouse for the fifth day of his sexual assault trial.
Cosby was accompanied Friday by comedian Joe Torry, who a day earlier joined fellow actor and comedian Lewis Dix in support of the 79-year-old actor. On Wednesday, actress Sheila Frazier and her hairstylist husband, John Atchison, arrived with Cosby. Earlier in the week, Keshia Knight-Pulliam, who played the youngest daughter, Rudy, on “The Cosby Show,” attended in support of Cosby.
On Thursday, jurors heard excerpts from the comedian’s lurid, decade-old deposition, but explosive sections about him obtaining quaaludes and giving them to women before sex are yet to come.
Prosecutors are expected to continue focusing on Cosby’s testimony on Friday.
It’s giving jurors a look at his view of the January 2004 encounter where Andrea Constand says he drugged and violated her at his suburban Philadelphia home.
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12:10 a.m.
Jurors at Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial have heard excerpts from the comedian’s lurid, decade-old deposition, but explosive sections about him obtaining quaaludes and giving them to women before sex are yet to come.
Prosecutors are expected to continue focusing on Cosby’s testimony on Friday.
It’s giving jurors a look at his view of the January 2004 encounter where Andrea Constand says he drugged and violated her at his suburban Philadelphia home.
The 79-year-old Cosby has said he will not testify. That means jurors will only hear from him through the deposition from Constand’s civil lawsuit and a prior police interview.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.
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For more on Cosby, including trial updates, historical photos, videos and an audio series exploring the case, visit: https://www.apnews.com/tag/CosbyonTrial
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