Bill Cosby Trial: TV Star’s Own Words Used Against Him

Prosecutors in the Bill Cosby trial began presenting their last big chunk of evidence on Thursday—and it may have been damning for the fallen TV icon.

The Montgomery County district attorney’s office began reading Cosby’s own words from a decade-old deposition in which Cosby acknowledged that he obtained quaaludes as part of an effort to have sex with women.

Parts of this deposition were read into the record on the fourth day of the criminal trial, however, prosecutors were not able to get far enough into the deposition to hear Cosby describe his use of drugs. That is expected to happen Friday. Instead, jurors heard Cosby’s deposition testimony about the beginnings of his romantic interest in Andrea Constand, the complainant in the case. Constand has accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her at his home outside Philadelphia in 2004.

Under questioning in the deposition, Cosby claimed the relationship and sexual activity was consensual. He also claimed the drugs he gave Constand were Benadryl and that he never gave other women drugs to “incapacitate them, only to party.”

According to The New York Times, prosecutors say the deposition, which surfaced in 2015 after scores of women came forward accusing Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them, was the main impetus behind their re-opening this case.

Cosby’s lawyers had fought to keep the deposition from being introduced into the trial, with limited success.

The prosecution also introduced two supporting witnesses on Thursday: a police officer who interviewed Cosby in 2005 and a neighbor of Constand.

So far, the defense has relied on its efforts to undermine Constand’s account, pointing out inaccuracies in her story over time. They also have drawn on evidence that Constand — who at the time of the alleged assault was a Temple University staff member — stayed in contact with Cosby after the incident occurred.

Cosby’s wife, Camille Cosby, has yet to appear in court, but Bill Cosby has been accompanied by show-business friends each day of the trial. Camille and Bill Cosby have been married since 1964 and in 2014, Camille defended her husband as a “wonderful husband, father and friend.”