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In October last year, Bill Cosby was released from prison after a ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

The ruling overturned his 2018 convictions on charges of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, when she was a Temple University employee back in 2004.

The ruling did not say that Cosby hadn’t done those things, but found that a “non-prosecution agreement” with a previous prosecutor meant that Cosby should not have been charged in the case.

In other words, a massive technicality. If you want to jog your memory regarding the women that came forward to accuse Cosby, see here or here or here or here or here. We could go on, but you get the point.

Other lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct against Cosby have been settled by his insurer.

Cosby may be walking free but he is now facing a civil lawsuit over a claim he sexually assaulted Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion in 1975.

Huth (below), now 64, filed the lawsuit in 2014 and Cosy has denied any wrongdoing. Below via the BBC:

[She alleges] the incident took place when she was 16 years old, days after she met Mr Cosby at a park near Los Angeles where he was shooting a film.

Image: Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

After giving her alcohol “as part of a game”, Mr Cosby took her to the Playboy Mansion, she says.

There, Ms Huth claims Mr Cosby took her to a bedroom and forced her to perform a sex act.

To put it more bluntly, per The New York Post, Cosby allegedly “brought her into an isolated bedroom, kissed her, slid his hand down her pants, and used her hand to perform a sex act on him”.

The trial has taken so long to start because of delays related to Cosby’s two criminal trials as well as COVID-19.

Opening statements in the trial took place yesterday at a court in Santa Monica, California. Nathan Goldberg, representing Huth, said his client has suffered from serious anxiety in the wake of the attack:

When other women came forward with stories of their abuse at the hands of Mr Cosby, “it was like a cork popped out of the bottle and all of her buried feelings rushed to the surface”, Mr Goldberg added.

Lawyers for Cosby admit that he met Huth and went with her to the Playboy Mansion, but deny anything untoward took place, and claim she was 18, not 16, at the time.

In addition, his legal team highlighted that Huth remained at the mansion for a number of hours after the alleged attack, swimming in the pool and watching a movie with her friend, Donna Samuelson.

Defence lawyer Jennifer Bonjean told the court, “Boy, did Judy and Donna enjoy themselves.”

The trial is expected to last seven to 10 days.

[sources:bbc&nypost]