Santa Monica, California (AP)-Jurors in a civil trial Tuesday found that Bill Cosby was sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl. At the Playboy Mansion In 1975.
The Los Angeles County jury ruled in favor of Judy Hutt, now 64, and awarded her $ 500,000.
The jury found that Cosby intentionally caused harmful sexual intercourse with Hutt, who reasonably believed that he was under the age of 18 and that his behavior was motivated by unnatural or abnormal sexual interest in a minor. age.
The jury’s decision was a huge legal defeat for the 84-year-old singer who was once identified as America’s father. Came nearly a year after he was convicted of sexual assault in Pennsylvania. He was exiled and released from prison. Houth’s lawsuit is one of the last remaining legal claims against him after his insurer settled several others against his will.
Cosby did not attend the trial and did not testify in person, but short clips of the 2015 video were played for the jury, in which He denied any sexual intercourse with Hutt. He continues to deny the allegations through his lawyer and publicist.
The jurors have already reached conclusions on almost every question about the form of their verdict, including whether Cosby abused Hutt and whether he was entitled to compensation after a two-day hearing on Friday. But the grand jury due to personal obligation is not eligible for additional work and the jury will have to begin discussion on Monday with the alternate jury.
Cosby’s lawyers agreed that Cosby met Hutt and his friend in the April 1975 movie in Southern California, and then took them to the Playboy Mansion a few days later.
Hutt’s friend Donna Samuelson, the main witness, took photos of Hutt and Cosby Palace, which were great at the trial.
Hutt testified that in the room next to the playroom, where the three were together, Cosby tried to touch his pants, then exposed them and forced him to have sex.
Hutt filed a lawsuit in 2014, alleging his son was 15 – the age he first remembered when he went to the palace – and a wave of other women accused him of behavior like Cosby brought new trauma to what he had experienced. . .
Hutton’s attorney, Nathan Goldberg, told a jury of nine women and three men in their concluding discussion Wednesday that “my client deserves responsibility for what Mr. Cosby did.”
“Everyone in your heart knows that Mr. Cosby sexually assaulted Miss Hutt,” Goldberg said.
Apparently, most jurors agreed and led Huth to victory in the lawsuit, which lasted eight years and overcame many hurdles just for trial.
During their testimony, Cosby’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjen, continued to challenge Hutt and Samuelson for detailed mistakes and similarities in their stories, which the attorney said represent coordination between the two women.
This included women who claimed in preliminary tests and police interviews that Samuelson had played Donkey Kong that day, a game that did not come out after six years.
Bonjan has done a lot here, what both sides call “protecting Donkey Kong”.
Goldberg asked the jury to examine in detail the minor flaws he believes are inevitable in the 45-year-old’s stories and focus on the key issues behind the allegations. He pointed out to jurors that Samuelson said “you play like Donkey Kong” when he first mentioned it in his deposition.
Cosby’s lawyer began his final argument by saying “it’s like Donkey Kong” and ended with “the game is over”.
Hutt’s lawyer’s angry reaction to his denial.
“It’s about justice!” he shouted as he climbed the podium. “We don’t have to end the game! We need justice! “
The Associated Press does not usually name people who claim to have been sexually assaulted unless they make it public, as Hutt did.
AP Entertainment writer Andrew Dalton contributed to this report.
Source: Huffpost
