Cosby Trial on 2004 Assault Claim Kicks Off

That Cosby gave Constand the pill is undisputed, Feden said, reading from Cosby's 2005 deposition where he himself admitted to giving Constand "one and a half Benedryl."

Once Constand was incapacitated, Feden said, Cosby “grabbed her limp hand and placed it on his penis and masturbated, and he then shoved his fingers into her vagina.”

“All the while,” the prosecutor continued, “she can't move and she can't talk. She was paralyzed."

Feden called on the jury to see through Cosby’s version of the events. "The defense will try and highlight [Constand's] inconsistencies, but this case is about her inability to consent,” Feden said.

She noted that a forensic toxicologist whom the government will call to the stand will prove that the effects of Benedryl and quaaludes are quite similar.

Defense attorney McMonagle emphasized that any time Cosby used quaaludes in the past, "it was with consenting women."

McMonagle called sexual assault a disgrace, but warned that unsupported claims "destroy a man's life, and a man's future.”

"As many of you look at Cosby, you may see him as a comedian who made us laugh when maybe we didn't have reason to, maybe you see an actor, or a flawed husband, or maybe you just see a man … but I hope and pray you see a citizen who is presumed innocent,” McMonagle said. 

Emphasizing that “a false accusation can destroy lives,” McMonagle urged the jury not to let the media frenzy surrounding the case cloud their judgment.

"Try to be the juror you would want if it was your father, your grandfather or you,” McMonagle said.

Cosby’s trial kicks off after a rigorous jury-screening process conducted in Pittsburgh.

Judge Steven O'Neill spoke to the unique qualities of Cosby’s jury before opening this morning’s proceedings.

”My role is to ensure a fair and impartial trial and to protect our jury the best I can,” O’Neill said. “They are over 300 miles away from home, and I understand the rights of free press, but please, let this trial play out.”

In reciting instructions to the 12-person jury for an hour this morning, the judge explained that the trial could extend into Saturday and would recess at 5:30 every day.

Prosecutors are expected this week to call 44-year-old Constand to the witness stand, where she will tell her story in public for the first time.

Assistant District Attorney Feden explained to the jury that they will also hear about their witness’s trauma from her mother, Gianna Constand.

In the months after their sexual encounter, Andrea had left Temple University and retreated to her family’s home in Canada. She only admitted what happened to her, Feden said, when she learned that her parents had bought tickets to see Cosby perform stand-up comedy.  

McMonagle disputed this in his opening statement, saying Cosby had given the Constand family tickets to his show, at Andrea’s request.

Though it is undisputed that Cosby apologized to Gianna Constand in 2005 about his sexual relationship with Andrea, McMonagle offered a less damning explanation. He apologized not because she couldn't consent, McMonagle said, “but because he was a married man and shouldn't have had a sexual relationship with her daughter."   

The court found enough evidence to go to trial, but Cosby’s attorneys have called the years-long delay prejudicial, insisting that Cosby is now mostly blind and suffering from memory loss.

McMonagle told the jury this morning that there was a reason Constand’s case failed to get off the ground back when the incident was fresh.

“In 2005 the DA that conducted the initial investigation found that Andrea Constand was untruthful and inconsistent,” McMonagle said.

Though the initial police report quotes Constand as saying her assault occurred the first time she was alone with Cosby, McMonagle noted that she revised this. By the third interview, he said, "her story begins to unravel.”

Indeeed on the prior occasions where Constand was alone with Cosby, she brought him "incense and bath salts,” McMonagle said.

“They drank cognac and brandy by a romantic fire … later she had dinner with him in his hotel room at the Fox Wood Casino in Connecticut,” he added.

On the night Cosby provided the Benadryl, McMonagle said Constand had complained about being unable to sleep.

“She fell asleep by the fire on the couch; he went upstairs to bed,” McMonagle said. “The next morning, he made her breakfast — a muffin and tea. After that, they talked all the time."

McMonagle shouted the next remark: ”After the alleged sexual assault in 2005, there are phone records showing, of 72 phone calls, she called him 53 times.”

The attorney also offered an explanation as to why Cosby paid for Constand's graduate school. "He paid for countless people's education,” McMonagle said. “It’s what he did."

Judge O’Neill has agreed to let District Attorney Kevin Steele call just one of Cosby’s other accusers as a witness. Kelly Johnson used to work for Cosby's agent at the William Morris Agency. She says Cosby drugged and assaulted her in 1996 at a Los Angeles hotel.

"Cosby invited her over to discuss her career,” Feden told the jury Monday. “And like Andrea, he gave her a pill. Like Andrea, she lost consciousness. Like Andrea, the defendant grabbed her hand placed it on his penis and masturbated. Like Andrea, she lost her sense of control and autonomy.”

Continue reading: Cosby Accuser Details Bel Air Assault for Pennsylvania Jury

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