Janice Dickinson may be one of the first witnesses to take the stand at the retrial of Bill Cosby, a source tells Us Weekly.
“Janice has been told by the prosecutor to be ready to go, and could even be the first witness to testify,” the source says. “[District Attorney] Kevin Steele is taking a much different tactic for this trial.”
The model, 63, claimed in a 2014 interview with Entertainment Tonight that the Cosby Show alum, 80, gave her a pill and a glass of red wine before sexually assaulting her in Lake Tahoe in 1982. His attorney Marty Singer called the allegations “a fabricated lie” at the time, prompting Dickinson to sue Cosby for defamation in 2015.
Now, Dickinson is among five witnesses who have been subpoenaed to testify at the retrial. But the source tells Us that “just because the judge allowed five women to testify doesn’t mean they will be called. Steele could even change his mind about Janice testifying, but she has already arrived in Pennsylvania.” (She was spotted arriving at an airport on Sunday, March 8, with her attorney Lisa Bloom.)
That said, the former America’s Next Top Model judge is “ready to go” should she be called to the stand, the source adds. “She has been waiting for this day, to stare down the man she says raped her.”
As previously reported, Dickinson was interviewed the week of March 19 by one of the prosecutors in the case. A source close to the situation previously told Us exclusively, “It was extremely traumatic for Janice, extremely emotional.”
Bloom previously told Us in a statement, “If the prosecution chooses to call Janice Dickinson as one of the five ‘prior bad acts’ witnesses, she is ready, willing and able to testify truthfully about her experience. After three years of litigating and winning against Bill Cosby, I remain proud to represent Janice, and if she is called, I will accompany her to Pennsylvania to lend my support before, during and after her testimony.”
The disgraced comedian’s retrial for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004 was set to begin in Pennsylvania on Monday, April 9, but the judge announced a delay after the defense claimed a selected member of the jury told another potential juror that Cosby was guilty. The comic’s first trial ended in June with a hung jury. He had pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated indecent assault.
With reporting by Jen Heger.
