The First Day of the Bill Cosby Trial

Published June 6th, 2017 - 08:30 GMT
Bill Cosby arrives at court. (Mark Makela / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
Bill Cosby arrives at court. (Mark Makela / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

Keshia Knight Pulliam probably never thought she would be seeing her former on-screen dad Bill Cosby under these circumstances.

The actress played Rudy, sitcom family man Cliff Huxtable's daughter on The Cosby Show, the TV series that made Cosby a household name in the 1980s and 1990s.

Fast forward to 2017 and she is walking arm-in-arm with the 79-year-old star as he uses a walking stick to manoeuvre his way into a Pennsylvania courthouse to stand trial on charges of sexual assault.

Cosby looks fragile but confident as he is helped out of his four-by-four by an assistant, who helps him into a dark suit jacket.

He smiles and chats with Pulliam, ignoring calls from reporters standing nearby. He does not look like a man who could be facing years in prison.

Sixty women have come out publicly to accuse Cosby of sexual assault, but this trial only concerns the accusations of one woman: Andrea Constand.

She says Cosby gave her sleeping tablets and sexually assaulted her while she was unconscious. Nevertheless, it still feels like Cosby is on trial for all of the dozens of accusations levelled against him.

Perhaps this is why Judge Steven O'Neill goes out of his way to make clear to the jury that Cosby is innocent until proven guilty.

In an hour-long address, O'Neill told jurors they have been selected for "one of the most important, solemn duties of citizenship" and that they must pay close attention to everything said in court.

Prosecutor Kristen Feden paints a picture of Cosby as a powerful TV star who used his fame and influence at Temple University to sexually assault women like Andrea Constand.

"There is no dispute that he gave her a pill, there is no dispute that after she ingested the pill he engaged in sexual contact with her," Feden says.

Cosby was a "legend" at the college and Constand looked up to him, believing her relationship with him was a "sincere friendship, sincere mentorship - but she was mistaken."

Cosby's defence lawyer Brian McMonagle tries an amiable approach to the jurors.

Who should the jury see when they look at Bill Cosby, he asks. "You might see a brilliant comedian who made us smile at times in our lives when maybe it was hard to smile," he says.

"Someone who has achieved the greatest and someone who has suffered unendurable personal tragedy," he continues; Cosby's son Ennis was murdered in 1997.

McMonagle reminds the jury that Constand gave police contradictory statements, that she left out important details and added them in later.

The first witness to take the stand is Kelly Johnson, who worked in Los Angeles as an assistant at Cosby's talent agency in the 1990s.

Johnson said that she had had the "utmost respect and admiration" for Cosby, as did millions of other Americans, especially African-Americans like herself.

But his attempts to get close to her and constant phone calls to her home made her uncomfortable, she told the court.

With a tremble in her voice, Johnson described a scenario which echoes the allegations Constand has made: Johnson alleges Cosby offered her a "large white pill" to help her "relax."

"I was extremely intimidated, I was very nervous," Johnson continued. When she went to the bathroom, she saw bottles of prescription pills at the sink. She felt like she was "underwater" - and then the blackout came.

When she regained consciousness she was in the bedroom, she said.

"My dress was pulled up from the bottom and it was pulled down from the top and my breasts were out and I felt naked, but the dress wasn't off."

As she describes how Cosby allegedly used her hand to pleasure himself, Johnson bursts into tears.

And Cosby, the affable comedian, watches attentively from the other side of the room, a serious, contemplative look spreading across his face.

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