HUGE

Judge Will Let Jury Hear How Much Cosby Paid Rape Accuser

Prosecutors will admit evidence that the comedian paid off Andrea Constand. The defense, however, will present a woman who says Constand told her she was out to get Cosby.

NORRISTOWN, Pennsylvania — The judge in the Bill Cosby trial ruled Tuesday morning that Andrea Constand’s civil suit against Bill Cosby, including the amount she got in a settlement with him in October 2006, can be part of Cosby’s upcoming criminal trial.

The decision to include Cosby’s deposition in the case, where he said he gave women drugs before having sex with him, will be made at the trial.

It’s a major win for prosecutors and the defense who were not even allowed to mention that civil suit at the first criminal trial, which ended with a hung jury last June.

Cosby’s defense team also got a victory from Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill after he granted their request to have Temple employee Marguerite Jackson testify about a conversation she says she had with Constand in 2004. Jackson claims Constand told her she intended to set up a “high profile” person for drugging and sexually assaulting her. O’Neill ruled her testimony was “hearsay” and thus inadmissible at the first trial after Constand said she did not remember her. O’Neill reserved the right to revisit the ruling depending on what Constand says in her testimony.

O’Neill deferred ruling on whether a January 2005 taped phone call between Andrea’s mother, Gianna, and Cosby can be admitted until the trial gets underway. He allowed it in as evidence in the first trial.

Cosby, 80, is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting Constand at his home in 2004. Cosby has denied Constand’s allegations as well as similar ones from more than 60 women. Opening arguments are scheduled for Monday, April 9.

Jury selection continued Tuesday with seven jurors total being chosen from an initial pool of 120.  All but ten said they had heard of the Cosby case with 68 saying they had formed an opinion about it.

O’Neill began questioning the second pool of 119 potential jurors around 3 p.m. Tuesday. This time all but two said they had heard of the #metoo movement while 117 said they’d heard of the Cosby case and 83 of them said they had formed an opinion about it. He will begin questioning some of them individually Wednesday morning.

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Nicole Weisensee Egan

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