Bill Cosby's lawyers open with attack on accusers' credibility

NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- (WPMT) -- Prosecutors in the Bill Cosby indecent assault trial on Monday claimed the 79-year-old actor knew exactly what he was doing when he drugged and assaulted Andrea Constand in 2004, while the defense went after the credibility of Constand and another Cosby accuser.

With the streets outside the courthouse lined with television trucks, Cosby arrived arm-in-arm with Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played his daughter Rudy Huxtable on “The Cosby Show.” The courtroom was packed with members of the public and media.

Cosby faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault, and he has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Cosby has said he does not plan to testify. His deposition from Constand's civil suit will stand as his explanation of what happened — which means the trial likely will hinge on a classic case of “he said, she said.”

In opening statements, Assistant District Attorney Kristen Feden told jurors that when Cosby “handed those pills to Andrea he knew what affect it would take” and he knew Constand would not be able to refuse his advances.

“Trust, betrayal, and the inability to consent. That's what this case is about. … This is a case about a man, this man,” she said, pointing to Cosby, “who used his power and his fame and his previously practiced method of placing a young trusting woman in an incapacitated state so that he could sexually pleasure himself so that she couldn't say no.”

The district attorney at the time of the alleged assault declined to press charges, and in 2006 Cosby settled a civil suit with Constand that remained sealed for almost a decade.

Cosby is facing a jury of seven men and five women. Two jurors are black. The jurors will be sequestered in the criminal trial for about two weeks, the lawyers in the case have predicted.