Bill Cosby paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault $3.38 million in a 2006 settlement, CNN reports.
The amount of the settlement paid to Andrea Constand was not public knowledge until Monday, April 9, when prosecutors revealed the number in opening statements of Cosby’s retrial. The 80-year-old is being tried for three counts of aggravated indecent assault on the former European basketball star. He has pleaded not guilty.
Constand accused the Cosby Show star of drugging and assaulting her at his home in 2004. Cosby’s lawyers have claimed that he had a consensual sexual relationship with Constand, a former employee at Temple University, where Cosby was once a member of the Board of Trustees. District Attorney Kevin Steele said in his opening statement Monday that Cosby pressured Constand to take pills that impaired her after he gained her trust.
Constand filed a police report in 2005, but Cosby was not charged at the time. A civil lawsuit between the two, in which he admitted to acquiring prescription sedatives for women he wanted to have sex with, was settled in 2006.
Meanwhile, a topless protestor attempted to approach Cosby as he walked into court on Monday. Nicolle Rochelle — who appeared in a recurring role on The Cosby Show — had painted “Cosby rapist” and various women’s names on her body and chanted near the comedian. She was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
Us Weekly reported on Monday, April 9, that Janice Dickinson could be among the first witnesses to take the stand against Cosby, who has been accused of drugging and molesting more than 50 women. “Janice has been told by the prosecutor to be ready to go, and could even be the first witness to testify,” a source told Us. “[District Attorney] Kevin Steele is taking a much different tactic for this trial.” The model, 63, alleged in a 2014 Entertainment Tonight interview that Cosby gave her a pill and sexually assaulted her in 1982. She and four other witnesses have been subpoenaed to testify in his retrial.
Cosby was tried on these charges once before, but a judge declared a mistrial in June 2017 after jurors could not agree on a unanimous verdict.
