FILE – Bill Cosby arrives for his sentencing hearing at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa. on September 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
DISCLAIMER: The article contains references to rape and sexual assault.Bill Cosby In 1972, he was held responsible for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman. The Hollywood star lost his case after a California civil jury found him responsible for the sexual assault and battery of Donna Motsinger after a nearly two-week trial in Santa Monica. Cosby, 88, has been asked to pay the woman a total of $19.25 million.
Bill Cosby loses the question of sexual assault
Jurors awarded Motsinger US$17.5 million for past damages and US$1.75 million for future damages, including “mental suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, inconvenience, grief, anxiety, humiliation and emotional distress.” They deliberated for a little over a day. They may award even more in the punitive damages phase of the trial, which begins Monday.
Bill Cosby to appeal the verdict
Cosby’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, said in an email to the AP that they are disappointed and plan to appeal the verdict.The decision came nearly five years after Cosby was released from prison in Pennsylvania, when the state Supreme Court threw out a criminal conviction based on similar allegations.
About the question of sexual assaults
Motsinger first made his allegations anonymously in a 2005 lawsuit by Constand. She was a waitress at a restaurant in Sausalito near San Francisco and said in a lawsuit filed in 2023 that Cosby invited her to his comedy show at a theater in San Carlos. Both were 30 years old at the time. She said Cosby gave her wine and two pills she thought were aspirin, and she was drifting in and out of consciousness when the two men bundled her into a limousine.“She woke up in her home with all her clothes off, except her underwear, no top, no bra and no pants,” the suit said, according to the AP. “Bill Cosby knew she drugged him and raped him.”In court filings, Cosby’s attorneys argued that the allegations were based almost entirely on speculation and conjecture, and said Motsinger “freely admits he has no idea what happened.”
Bill Cosby was released from prison
Cosby did not testify at the trial, whose witnesses included Andrea Constand, a Temple University athletic administrator who was convicted of sexual assault in a Pennsylvania criminal court in 2018. The state Supreme Court overturned the verdict and Cosby was released from prison after serving three to 10 years.In 2022, a Santa Monica jury awarded $500,000 to a woman who said Cosby sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 1975.
Bill Cosby was the first celebrity to be tried and convicted #MeToo time
The stand-up comedian and former TV superstar known as “America’s Dad” became the first celebrity to be tried and convicted in the #MeToo era, before his conviction was finally thrown out when an appeals court ruled he gave incriminating testimony after he was deemed immune from prosecution.Disclaimer: This report is a journalistic account of a recent development in court. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy based on available information, this is not a substitute for an official court order or legal advice. The final decision published by the court is the final source of information. This article serves as a report on the current state of the case and should not be considered legal guidance.
