A jury on Tuesday dominated towards Bill Cosby in a civil lawsuit introduced towards him by a girl who mentioned he sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 1975, when she was 16.
Judy Huth testified that Cosby molested her. She accused him of making an attempt to place his hand down her tight pants and exposing himself earlier than he compelled her to the touch him sexually on a mattress in a “blue room,” which she mentioned was adjoining to the sport room at the mansion.
Huth, now 64, testified that Cosby stored pursuing her after she informed him that she was “15 or 16” years outdated. She claims to have informed Cosby that she was on her menstrual cycle — though she was not — in hopes that he would cease.
“I was trying to deflect,” she mentioned. “But he didn’t stop. I just closed my eyes. … It was so fast. Maybe five minutes. Quick.”
The jury awarded Huth $500,000 in damages.
Huth informed reporters after the decision that the jury’s discovering that she was sexually abused was extra necessary than the financial quantity.
“I was elated,” she mentioned of listening to the decision. “Seriously, it’s been so many years, so many tears.”
The trial represents one of many final remaining authorized claims towards Cosby after his Pennsylvania prison conviction was thrown out by an appeals court docket final 12 months. The 84-year-old actor didn’t attend the trial and didn’t testify.
During closing arguments, a lawyer for Bill Cosby informed jurors they should look previous years of public accusations towards him and contemplate solely the proof introduced by Huth.
Cosby’s protection crew has centered on calling Huth a liar as a result of she has modified the timeline of the story. In a 2014 lawsuit, she mentioned the assault occurred in 1973 or 1974. But earlier than the trial started, Huth and her attorneys mentioned that additional investigation of the proof allowed them to find out that it truly occurred in the spring of 1975.
During closing arguments, Cosby lawyer Jennifer Bonjean mentioned Huth and her attorneys didn’t come near proving “her 50-year-old, he-said-she-said case.”
“Can you imagine how hard it is to defend a case when you start with the label of sexual predator?” Bonjean informed the jurors, reminding them they have been chosen as a result of they promised they might be capable of contemplate solely the details introduced in court docket. “If we were just going to try people based on labels, then why have trials at all?”
Huth’s lawyer Nathan Goldberg informed the jury that “my client deserves to have Mr. Cosby held accountable for what he did.”
“Each of you knows in your heart that Mr. Cosby sexually assaulted Miss Huth,” Goldberg mentioned.
Huth mentioned the decision was a vindication.
“It’s been torture; it has. Just to be ripped apart. You know, thrown under the bus, backed over,” she mentioned at a news convention. “And this to me is just such a big victory, it really is — to all victims.”
Doha Madani and Phil Helsel contributed.