Bill Cosby’s ugly show

Comedian Bill Cosby was last week ordered to stand trial in a sexual assault case brought against him last December.

Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, has accused the comedian of drugging and assaulting her at his home in 2004.

Cosby (78), who has had similar claims made against him by some 50 other women, for which his legal team has issued a number of denials, insists that he and Constand had consensual sexual relations and that the only drug he gave her was Benadryl.

In time, a jury will hear evidence from both the prosecution and defence, but according to Sunny Hostin, ABC News senior legal correspondent and analyst, it could be an uphill battle for Cosby’s lawyers.

“If his [unsealed] deposition [from 2005] comes in, which I believe it will, and if other women get on the witness stand, it’s going to be very difficult for Bill Cosby to defend himself,” she said. “In my view, if there is a guilty verdict, no judge would sentence him to no time given the [alleged] pattern of behaviour.”

Constand first went to the police in 2005, one year after the alleged assault took place. That same year, Cosby was deposed in connection to the incident and he admitted in recently unsealed testimony that in the past, he had given Quaaludes to a woman with whom he wanted to have sex.

“It’s going to be extremely damaging. You have Bill Cosby in his own words admitting to the same behaviour that he’s being accused of by over 50 women,” she said. “The issue will be for this jury [to determine] consent.”

No consent

Cosby’s legal team has already taken swipes at Constand’s past statements, calling them “riddled with numerous corrections and inconsistencies” and Hostin believes they will continue to do so.

“The defence’s strategy will be to say that she willingly took the drugs because she wanted to engage in sexual activity with Cosby,” she said. “I think the defence will be that she targeted him for his money and that she didn’t behave like a victim of sexual assault, because after this alleged [incident], she saw him again.”

The fact that Constand didn’t report the alleged incident to police for a year will likely be a factor, too. To that end, “Andrea Constand’s testimony by itself will not be enough to convict Bill Cosby,” she said.

Ultimately, Cosby’s fate will rest in the hands of a jury that has yet to be selected. Hostin said that contrary to popular belief, the lawyers don’t need to find potential jurors who haven’t heard of the allegations. What’s more important, she said, is that they have yet to form an opinion about Cosby’s guilt or innocence.

“In a high profile case, you don’t want a juror who has never heard of the case because that’s a juror who’s not well-informed. Your ideal juror in a celebrity criminal case is a juror who has heard of this, but has an open mind and can put aside everything he or she has heard, sit in that courtroom day in and day out, listen to evidence as it comes in and then make a decision,” she said.

- abcnews.com