Last year, after a Hannibal Buress comedy bit called Bill Cosby a rapist, accusers saying the actor/comedian had drugged and sexually assaulted them seemed to come out of the woodwork. Many of these women said that the acts occurred decades ago, and that they had been to afraid or intimidated by the power of the celebrity to report what had happened to them.
Indeed, the statute of limitations for prosecuting all but one of the claims had expired. The one allegation that fell within the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution, however, seemed to lack evidence. In fact, in that case, Cosby's attorneys said they could prove that he was not even at the party at the Playboy Mansion where the rape was alleged to have taken place. Instead, he was on the opposite coast.
Although many of the accusations came in the last year (see our infographic and timeline here), at least one woman accused Cosby in 2005 and the case was settled in civil court. Now, the Associated Press has obtained court records from that lawsuit, and their findings seem to put Cosby defenders on shaky ground indeed.
According to court documents, says the AP, Bill Cosby admitted openly that he had given the plaintiff three half-pills of Benadryl, and he also admitted to obtaining Quaaludes to use as a means to have sex with women.
A CNN report gave excerpts of the court transcript:
In a sworn deposition, Cosby answered questions from Constand's attorney, Dolores Troiani.
"When you got the Quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these Quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with?" Troiani asked.
"Yes," Cosby replied.
"Did you ever give any of those young women the Quaaludes without their knowledge?" Troiani asked.
Cosby's attorney objected and told him not to answer the question.
Certainly, Cosby's admission does not address every accusation against him, nor does he admit to drugging women without their knowledge to render them unconscious so that he could rape them. However, it does not look good for Bill Cosby, and Gloria Allred, the attorney representing many of his accusers, has already said she hopes to use this admission in pending civil lawsuits against the actor/comedian.
How is Bill Cosby's camp responding to this most recent revelation? Well, they are not. Cosby publicist David Brokaw told CNN, "We have no plans to issue a statement."
