Santa Monica, CA —Tuesday jury found Bill Cosby sexually assaulted Judy Hughes in 1975. As a 16-year-old girl, she accepted an invitation to join him at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.
The jury trial’s decision came forward to blame him for sexual misconduct by dozens of women, giving the man’s reputation as one of America’s most beloved entertainers disbanded. I hurt again.
As part of that decision, the jury awarded Mr. Hughes. $There was 500,000 compensatory damages, but refused to give punitive damages.
Beyond its importance to Hughes, who first filed the accusation in 2014, the ruling has provided some satisfaction to many women who have long accused Cosby of similar abuse. After Cosby’s criminal conviction in Andrea Constant was overturned by the Appeals Commission for due process reasons last year, Hughes offers a second chance to obtain official proof of their account. Did.
Many of the whistleblowers were time-limited to file their own proceedings because they did not come forward when they said Mr. Cosby had attacked them. However, because the jury agreed to be a minor at the time, Mr Huth’s proceedings could move forward, and California law extended the duration of civil proceedings for those who were molested as children.
After the verdict was announced and the jury was dismissed, Mr. Hughes hugged the lawyer.
“I feel good and I feel proven,” Hughes said.
The ruling was a detrimental setback for Mr. Cosby, who was released after serving in prison for nearly three years, for promoting the Court of Appeals’ ruling as a complete immunity. The person who wielded his celebrity to take advantage of the woman.
Cosby has consistently denied all women’s explanations, claiming that whenever he had a sexual encounter with someone, it had reached an agreement. He exercised his fifth amendment privilege against self-indemnity and did not attend the trial. However, some of his deposits recorded on video a few years ago were played for the jury, and they heard him say he had no memory of meeting Mr. Hughes.
The twelve jury trials were unanimous in their findings and voted 9-3 to indemnify Huth for compensatory damages. After the jury was dismissed, one jury, Aldo Reyna, 25, explained why he made a decision in her favor.
“Given the time frame, you have to obey someone’s words,” he said in an interview. “You either believe them or don’t. I believed she was on the stand.”
Mr. Cosby’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjan, claimed some victory in the fact that the jury opposed punitive damages.
“We feel some relief,” she said. “Not finding punitive damages was a big win for us.”
A Celebrities will appeal, Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt said.
“Mr. Cosby will continue to maintain his innocence,” Wyatt said in a statement, “and as he can return to bringing the world the pursuit of happiness, joy and laughter. We will fight fiercely against these false accusations. “
The jury, which began deliberations on Thursday, heard the testimony for 10 days. Meanwhile, Huth, now 64, happened to meet Cosby while filming her movie in her local park, eventually playing her at the Playboy Mansion. Often in emotional testimony, she gave her her sexual activity after a famous man she once respected tried to put her hand on her pants with a comedy record collected by her father. I explained what I was forced to do.
“I had my eyes closed at that point,” Hughes said in court. “I was surprised.”
Then she said, “I was angry. I felt fooled and fooled. I was disappointed. I was hurt.”
The encounter with the playboy occurred a few days after Hughes and his friend Don Samuelson met Cosby while filming the scene for the movie “Let’s Do It Again” in a park in San Marino, California. Their house.
Hughes and Samuelson testified that Cosby invited them to a tennis club a few days later, then to the house where he was staying, where he played billiards. He said at the Playboy Mansion he was 19 when asked for his age.
Cosby, 84, along with his lawyer, Hughes, denied Hughes’ allegations. Bonjan describes her description as “a complete and complete fabrication.” The jury was shown a picture of Mr. Cosby and Mr. Hughes at the Playboy Mansion taken by Mr. Samuelson, who said in a deposition that he would take pictures with many people. The lawyer made money by coordinating with her friends in an assault that Mr. Hughes suggested made.
Bonjan pointed out that Hughes spent hours in the mansion, swimming in the pool and ordering cocktails, after Hughes described him as ruthless sexual abuse.And she disputes Hughes’ explanation of why she didn’t talk about the episode months and years later, whether Hughes really suppressed the terrible experience, or just offering an account. I asked him if he had accused him of joining the person.
Huth said she simply filled the traumatic experience for years.
“It’s like garbage,” she said. “You dig a hole and throw trash there.”
The jury endorsed Huth. However, the decision was made after a lengthy deliberation interrupted by multiple questions from the jury seeking guidance on how to interpret the language of the questions on the verdict sheet given as a guide. The process was even more complicated when the jury trial chief had to be exempted two days after the deliberations. The panel, which reported approaching Friday’s verdict, had to take another approach and was told to start over.
As the trial progressed, Mr. Wyatt increasingly criticized the judge and one of Mr. Hughes’ lawyers, Gloria Allred. Wyatt said the judge had unfairly endorsed Hughes, and when Allred admitted Juneteenth in court, she said she was using the memory of “slaved people.” She said she opposed even if she helped the case against him. Cosby he called the “Black American Icon”.
After the verdict, Ms. Allred congratulated Ms. Huth for her efforts in a long court battle.
“She has shown so much courage and has made so many sacrifices to win justice,” Allred said. “She won her real change. She fought and won Bill Cosby.”
Huth was the first civil lawsuit to accuse Cosby of being tried for sexual assault. He has been sued by other women, many of whom have stated that their legal team has defamed them after dismissing their claims as fiction. His spokesman said 11 civil proceedings had been settled, 10 of which were agreed by Mr. Cosby’s former insurance company on his opposition.
Hughes’ proceedings are largely pending while Pennsylvania prosecutors are pursuing Cosby with criminal charges of drugging him and sexually assaulting former Temple University employee Constant. Was there.
However, his 2018 conviction in that case was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the non-prosecution agreement by the former prosecutor meant that Mr. Cosby should not have been prosecuted in this case.
The remaining one civil suit was filed by actor and visual artist Lili Bernard. Lilliburnard accused her of drugging and sexually assaulting her at a hotel in Atlantic City in 1990 at the age of 26. The incident is still in its infancy.
Bernard, one of several women who accused Cosby of being sexually abused, attended a trial in Santa Monica to help Hughes. She praised her verdict and said she was “far beyond the survivors of Cosby.”
“Judy Hughes is a hero!” She said. “Her positive attitude encouraged others to find their voice.”