SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Judy Huth recalled being distraught whereas describing an allegation that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted her close to a recreation room at the Playboy Mansion in 1975.
While shedding tears, Huth testified in a civil trial towards Cosby on Tuesday that he molested her when she was 16. She accused Cosby of making an attempt to place his hand down her tight pants and exposing himself earlier than he pressured Huth to the touch him sexually on a mattress in a “blue room,” which she says was adjoining to the sport room.
“He forced himself on me,” recalled Huth, whose testimony got here within the Los Angeles County trial over a lawsuit she filed. Cosby denies her allegations.
“I was shocked to say the least,” she stated.
Huth, 64, stated the alleged incident occurred after she and her highschool good friend, Donna Samuelson, accompanied Cosby on a go to to the mansion. She stated he gave them a tour of the mansion and recreation room earlier than they performed some video games together with Donkey Kong, and she or he went to the restroom. She then stated Cosby pressured her to carry out a intercourse act within the bed room.
The trial represents one of many final remaining authorized claims towards Cosby after his Pennsylvania felony conviction was thrown out by an appeals courtroom final yr, and his insurer settled many different lawsuits towards his will. He isn’t attending the trial, and won’t testify, however elements of a video deposition he gave shortly after the 2014 lawsuit was filed will likely be performed.
During Huth’s testimony, she stated Cosby saved pursuing her after she advised him that she was “15 or 16” years outdated. She claims to have advised Cosby that she was on her menstrual cycle — regardless that she was not — in hopes that he would cease.
“I was trying to deflect,” she stated. “But he didn’t stop. I just closed my eyes. … It was so fast. Maybe five minutes. Quick.”
Afterwards, Huth stated Cosby walked out the room earlier than she in the end adopted him to the grotto space of the mansion, the place each took a photograph — which was proven in courtroom. As Huth seemed at the photograph, she stated felt “mad, duped and foolish.”
“I felt let down. I was hurt,” she stated. The photograph — which has been proven to jurors a number of occasions — has Cosby carrying a crimson beanie and smiling subsequent to the teenage Huth.
During cross examination, Cosby’s legal professional Jennifer Bonjean accused Huth of being a liar a number of occasions for delivering two variations of her story. The preliminary lawsuit filed in 2014 alleged that the incident happened in late 1973 or 1974, when Huth was 15 and Samuelson 16.
Just a few weeks earlier than the trial started, Huth and her attorneys stated that additional investigation of the proof allowed them to find out that it truly occurred within the spring of 1975, when Huth was 16 and Samuelson 17.
Bonjean accused Huth of evaluating tales with Samuelson earlier than she spoke with the Los Angeles Police Department in 2016. Huth refuted Bonjean’s declare.
“You lied about the date, the year this happened and your age,” Bonjean stated.
Huth stated she needed to depart the mansion. However, she stated she elected to remain as a result of there was no different transportation out of Samuelson, who drove and wasn’t prepared to depart.
Huth stated the alleged incident with Cosby was nonetheless on her thoughts. But since Cosby left for an occasion and each stayed, they turned into their swimsuits and took a swim earlier than taking part in backgammon with a pair ladies. She says one of many ladies carrying a purple gown was accompanied by actor Peter Lawford.
Bonjean stated that’s when Huth lied about her age to the ladies, telling them she was 19.
“You misrepresented your age,” Cosby’s legal professional stated.
Bonjean stated Huth is now telling her facet of the story due to financial causes. But Huth refuted that concept, saying she didn’t inform anybody — together with her father — concerning the alleged sexual abuse for years till she noticed different ladies step ahead with their story and her son’s fifteenth birthday, which she says “triggered” her.
“I went back to being irritable,” she stated. “I went back to blaming myself. I became a loner.”
The Associated Press doesn’t usually identify individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused, until they arrive ahead publicly, as Huth has.