‘Court of Public Opinion’: Cosby’s Lawyer Vows to Clear His Name in Civil Sex Abuse Case
© AP Photo / Matt Slocum
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Cosby's first trial on the Pennsylvania charges ended in a mistrial with the jury deadlocked. In the second trial the judge allowed the prosecution to call other women who had accused Cosby of molesting them — but were not witnesses to the charge at hand — to testify in breach of an earlier pledge to his defence.
The defence attorney who got Bill Cosby's sexual assault conviction struck down has vowed to "fully vindicate" the comedian in a looming civil case over five-decade-old sexual abuse claims.
Cosby, 84, will contest accusations by Judy Huth that he molested her at the Los Angeles Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was 15.
The actor's legal team announced that attorney Jennifer Bonjean, who persuaded the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to overturn Cosby's 2018 conviction in June, would also lead the new case.
"Even if he would love to testify, he still has Fifth Amendment privileges that need to be considered," Bonjean said, and warned there could be a repeat of the flawed conviction in the 2018 trial.
— NancyDillonNYDN (@NancyDillonNYDN) August 13, 2021
Cosby's first trial on the Pennsylvania charges ended in a mistrial with the jury deadlocked. In a second trial the judge allowed the prosecution to call other women who had accused Cosby of drugging and molesting them — but were not witnesses to the alleged offenses he was being tried for — to testify in breach of an earlier pledge to his defence. The conviction was overturned on that basis.
The legal team also said they would challenge the constitutionality of California's civil court legislation, which allows those claiming to be victims of child abuse to sue their alleged abusers.
Cosby's attorneys charged that Huth's legal representatives were “determined to try this case in the court of public opinion where the rules don’t apply and where their client’s ancient accusation isn’t subject to any meaningful vetting.”
But Huth’s lead attorney, Gloria Allread, warned that ruling the law unconstitutional would be harmful to historic child sex abuse victims seeking compensation through the courts.
“They are saying essentially that they know the new law does apply to the point of our clients in this case," Allread said. "That is going to inflict significant harm, potentially, on many victims of child sexual abuse in California because in plain English, what the new law does is it opens up access to the courts for many victims of child sexual abuse who may have been victimised in prior years.”
