NORRISTOWN, Pa.—It was back in 2015 when unsealed court documents first revealed that Bill Cosby had said in a deposition that he, at one point, had seven prescriptions for Quaaludes and gave them to women he wanted to have sex with. Those details were explored even more when several news outlets got copies of the full depositions—it was revealed, for example, that Cosby said a Los Angeles gynecologist supplied him with the pills. But the documents were then placed back under seal and became court evidence.
Many of these passages have been read into the public record before, including a recap of some the most explosive excerpts sent out by the Associated Press the weekend before the trial. On Friday, they became part of the court record as they were read to jurors. As before, District Attorney Kevin Steele read the part of the lawyer, and Montgomery County Det. James Reape read the part of Cosby. Cosby was in the courtroom the entire time; so was Therese Serignese, who says she was assaulted by Cosby and is mentioned in some of the parts read aloud to jurors.
Several of the sections read to jurors have already been reported (and you can read them here). But there were a few new lines. In one instance, a lawyer kept pushing Cosby about why he gave out Quaaludes despite knowing it was illegal, and he responded, “Why do I have to answer that. It’s obvious. I gave them.”
As with other passages, there were moments where Cosby’s answers can only be described as all over the place. When he was asked what other people he had given Quaaludes to in the past five years, and he responded: “None. Just let me explain. I’ll concentrate. If I’m trying to level, keep this level, in your mind. This draws my attention away and my concentration.”
In other developments:
Jurors heard Dr. Veronique Valliere, whose counseling business works with rape victims, talk about how victims react after a sexual assault and why they might delay reporting it. It lead to an interesting exchange between assistant district attorney Kristen Feden and defense attorney Brian McMonagle. McMonagle requested a mistrial or that the entire testimony of Valliere be stricken because her testimony—especially when she talked about how victims might fear reporting an attacker much more powerful than them—sounded too much like the allegations against Cosby. Feden disagreed and said that this type of testimony was specifically allowed by Pennsylvania law to address misconceptions people have about rape and how rape victims are supposed to act.
Feden: “There are set types of responses to sexual assault and she is testifying to them.”
McMonagle: “She just gave you my point!
Ultimately, the judge denied McMonagle’s motion, although McMonagle did get several jabs in during his cross examination. He was able to use a line of questioning that resulted in Valliere saying that yes, false rape claims also could be reported late and have some of the characteristics she had described. He also portrayed her as biased because of a post to her counseling group’s Facebook page, which he showed in court:
Another expert, toxicologist Timothy Rohrig, spoke about the effects of Benadryl’s active ingredient, diphenhydramine, saying that it makes you sleepy. He also talked about prior cases where it had been used for sexual assaults. This time, McMonagle in his questioning focused on the fact that the effects of Benadryl are not immediate; it takes time to enter the bloodstream.
Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt, when asked why the comedian’s family was not at the trial, blamed the media.