A juror in the Bill Cosby sexual assault trial had some very disturbing things to say about Cosby’s accuser
Here’s some news that will make your skin crawl. A juror in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial said this week that he found Cosby’s accuser, Andrea Constand, to be untrustworthy because she seemed “well-coached,” and also because she wore a crop top to Cosby’s home one night before the alleged assault in 2004.
The juror, who spoke to the Philadelphia Inquirer on the condition of anonymity, said, “She was well-coached. Let’s face it: She went up to his house with a bare midriff and incense and bath salts. What the heck?”
Even though we know you don’t need the reminder, we’ll just pause here to say this: A woman can wear whatever she wants — her outfit is never an invitation to sexually assault her. Period. Full stop.
Constand, for her part, has said she saw Cosby as a friend and mentor only, and brought the incense and bath salts to his home as gifts. She said in her testimony that Cosby drugged and assaulted her, though Cosby maintains that the sexual contact between the two was consensual. (Constand has also noted previously that she is gay.)
In his interview with the Inquirer, the anonymous juror added that he thinks Cosby has already “paid dearly” and should not be retried in the Constand case — “It would be a waste of Montgomery [County] money with the money it cost” — and said that he thinks “more than half” of the over 60 other women who have also accused Cosby of sexual assault made up their stories and “jumped on the bandwagon.”
The trial wrapped up last week with a mistrial, after a hopelessly deadlocked jury failed to come to a decision, and the prosecution announced that it will retry the case. We sure hope the next set of jurors isn’t judging Constand against a sexist and unfair standard.