Bill Cosby sexually abused a 16-year-old, jury finds
The entertainer had molested a 16-year-old in 1975 at the Playboy Mansion, according to a Los Angeles County Jury
Jurors at a civil trial found Tuesday that Bill Cosby sexually abused a 16-year-old girl at the Playboy Mansion in 1975.
Judy Huth, now 64 years old, received a $500,000 decision in her favor from the Los Angeles County jury.
The jury determined that Cosby had sexual contact with Huth with the intent to hurt her, that he had a reasonable belief that she was underage and that his actions were motivated by an irrational or pathological sexual interest in a minor.
The jurors’ decision is a major legal defeat for the 84-year-old entertainer once hailed as America’s dad. It comes over a year after his Pennsylvania criminal sexual assault conviction was overturned and he was set free. After his insurer settled several other cases against his wishes, Huth’s lawsuit was one of the final remaining legal claims against him.
Cosby did not appear at the trial or give a direct testimony, but jurors were shown brief excerpts from his 2015 video deposition in which he categorically denied having sex with Huth. Through his lawyer and publicist, he continues to refute the accusation.
Since the statute of limitations had passed by the time Huth approached the police the case was never prosecuted criminally. But she was able to bring the civil suit under a California law that allows adults to pursue cases of sexual abuse as minors.
Jurors had already reached judgments on nearly every issue on their verdict form, including whether Cosby mistreated Huth and if she deserved damages, following two days of deliberations on Friday. Due to a personal commitment, the jury foreperson was unable to continue serving, thus the panel had to reopen the case on Monday and select a new juror.
Cosby’s lawyers concurred that he first met Huth and her high school buddy in April 1975 while working on a Southern California movie set and that he later drove them to the Playboy Mansion.
A crucial witness, Donna Samuelson, a friend of Huth, shot pictures at the Huth and Cosby residence, which predominated the trial.
Huth testified that Cosby tried to put his hand down her pants in a bedroom next to a game room where the three had been hanging out before exposing himself and compelling her to engage in sex acts. She filed her lawsuit in 2014, saying that her son turning 15- the age she initially remembered being when she went to the mansion and a wave of other women accusing Cosby of similar acts brought fresh trauma over what she had been through as a teenager.
Huth’s attorney Nathan Goldberg told the jury of nine women and three men during closing arguments Wednesday that “my client deserves to have Mr. Cosby held accountable for what he did.”
A majority of jurors apparently agreed, giving Huth a victory in a suit that took eight years and overcame many hurdles just to get to trial.