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Opening statements are expected to begin Wednesday in the California civil trial against Bill Cosby over allegations he sexually assaulted a woman named Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion in 1975.
Cosby’s latest trial kicks off eleven months after he was freed from prison when a Pennsylvania appeals court threw out his criminal conviction. Opening statements are expected to begin Wednesday and the trial is expected to last two weeks.
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Bill Cosby arrives for his sexual assault trial in Norristown, Pa. on April 20, 2018, left, and Judy Huth appears at a press conference outside the Los Angeles Police Department’s Wilshire Division station in Los Angeles on Dec. 5, 2014. E
((AP Photo))
Huth, now 64, has said she was 16 years old in 1975 when she and a friend met Cosby at a Los Angeles-area park, where he was filming the movie “Let’s Do It Again.”
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A few days later, Cosby allegedly had her drink alcohol “as part of a game,” then took her to the Playboy Mansion. There, according to the complaint, he took her into an isolated bedroom, kissed her on the mouth, slid his hand down her pants, and used her hand to perform a sex act on him.
Judy Huth appears at a news conference outside the Los Angeles Police Department’s Wilshire Division station in Los Angeles on Dec. 5, 2014.
((AP Photo/Anthony McCartney, File))
Huth filed a lawsuit against Cosby in 2014, seeking financial damages to be determined at trial.
Cosby’s attorneys have conceded that he met Huth and took her to the Playboy Mansion, which can be seen in an undated photo of the pair there. But they thoroughly deny that any assault took place. They further say that Huth was actually 18 when the mansion visit occurred, which would make any violation significantly less serious under California law.
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Cosby’s attorneys have not said what evidence they will use to demonstrate this, and emphasize the burden is on the plaintiffs to prove when the visit happened.
FILE – Bill Cosby arrives for a sentencing hearing following his sexual assault conviction at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown Pa., on Sept. 25, 2018.
((AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File))
Huth allegedly changed her recollection of events just weeks before her trial, after evidence uncovered by her attorneys led them to believe she met Cosby on the movie set in 1975, when she was 16, not in late 1973 or early 1974, when she was 15.
Among the things they used to reach the conclusion: a dated photo of Cosby with the beard Huth remembers him having. Cosby attorney Jennifer Bonjean called the late change an “ambush” that would make presenting a defense more difficult, but the judge declined to dismiss the case or delay the trial. He did allow a final last-minute deposition of Huth.
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Cosby, a longtime actor, is not required to attend the trial. Several other lawsuits accusing Bill Cosby of sexual assault were previously settled by his insurer against his will.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
