Jury finds Invoice Cosby sexually assaulted girl in 1972, awards her greater than $19M US

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A civil jury in California discovered Monday that Invoice Cosby was chargeable for drugging and sexually assaulting a girl in 1972 and awarded her $19.25 million US.

After a virtually two-week trial in Santa Monica, jurors discovered the 88-year-old Cosby chargeable for the sexual battery and assault of Donna Motsinger.

Cosby's legal professional Jennifer Bonjean mentioned in an e-mail that they're upset and totally intend to attraction the decision.

The choice got here practically 5 years after Cosby was free of jail in Pennsylvania when the state Supreme Court docket threw out a felony conviction based mostly on comparable allegations.

Motsinger had been a server at a restaurant in Sausalito, close to San Francisco, and mentioned in her lawsuit, filed in 2023, that Cosby had invited her to his stand-up comedy present at a theatre in close by San Carlos. Each had been of their 30s on the time. She mentioned Cosby gave her wine and two drugs that she believed had been aspirin, and that she was going out and in of consciousness as two males put her in a limousine.

"She wakened in her home with all her garments off, besides her underwear on — no prime, no bra, and no pants," the lawsuit mentioned. "She knew she had been drugged and raped by Invoice Cosby."

Jury may award extra in punitive damages In courtroom filings, Cosby's legal professionals argued that the allegations rested virtually solely on hypothesis and assumption, saying Motsinger "freely admits that she has no thought what occurred."

Jurors awarded Motsinger $17.5 million US in previous damages and $1.75 million US for future damages, together with "psychological struggling, lack of enjoyment of life, inconvenience, grief, anxiousness, humiliation and emotional misery." They deliberated for simply over a day.

They will award much more in a punitive damages part of the trial that begins later Monday.

Cosby didn't testify on the trial, whose witnesses included Andrea Constand, the Temple College sports activities administrator he was convicted of sexually assaulting in a Pennsylvania felony courtroom in 2018. The state's Supreme Court docket threw out the decision and Cosby was free of jail after serving practically three years of a three- to 10-year sentence.

<img loading="lazy" alt="A tall woman with short curly hair stands behind others in a hallway" srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/d101865a-e7ec-477c-948e-87e13ef0ef0b,1774308710159/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C2581%2C1327%29%3BResize%3D796 796w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/d101865a-e7ec-477c-948e-87e13ef0ef0b,1774308710159/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C2581%2C1327%29%3BResize%3D1083 1083w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/d101865a-e7ec-477c-948e-87e13ef0ef0b,1774308710159/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C2581%2C1327%29%3BResize%3D1280 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 762px) calc(100vw - 32px),730px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/d101865a-e7ec-477c-948e-87e13ef0ef0b,1774308710159/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C2581%2C1327%29%3B" style="aspect-ratio:1.9449886963074605" data-cy="image-img"/> Andrea Constand, seen right here in 2018, testified on the trial. Cosby was discovered responsible of sexually assaulting her in 2018, earlier than the decision was thown out on attraction. (David Maialetti/Reuters) Motsinger first made her allegations anonymously in a 2005 lawsuit filed by Constand.

The Related Press doesn't usually identify individuals who say they've been sexually abused until they arrive ahead publicly and consent to be named, as Constand and Motsinger have.

In 2022, a jury in Santa Monica awarded $500,000 US to a girl who mentioned Cosby sexually assaulted her on the Playboy Mansion when she was a youngster in 1975.

Motsinger's lawsuit echoed allegations of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment made by not less than 60 girls in opposition to Cosby, all of which he has denied.

The previous stand-up comedy and tv famous person as soon as extensively often called "America's Dad" turned the primary celeb tried and convicted within the #MeToo period earlier than his conviction was completely thrown out when appeals courtroom discovered he gave incriminating testimony in a deposition solely after believing he had immunity from prosecution.