Bill Cosby's own words at sexual assault trial sealed his fate, says juror
'If you were there, you would say the same thing. You would say he was guilty,' juror says
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Your support makes all the difference.A juror in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial has said it was the comedian’s own words that lead to his conviction.
Harrison Snyder was one of 12 jurors who found Cosby guilty of assaulting Andrea Constand in a trial last week. Mr Snyder, the youngest of the jurors, said it was Cosby’s testimony in a 2005 deposition that sealed his fate.
“I think it was his deposition, really. Mr Cosby admitted to giving these Quaaludes to women, young women, in order to have sex with them,” the 22-year-old told ABC’s Good Morning America.
In a recently unsealed deposition, Cosby admitted to obtaining Quaaludes – a powerful sedative outlawed in the 1980s – and giving them to at least one young woman with whom he intended to have sex.
The admission came during a civil case filed by Ms Constand. The former basketball player accused Cosby of giving her pills that left her “frozen” and unable to consent before sexually assaulting her in 2004.
In court this month, Ms Constand’s attorneys suggested the pills were Quaaludes. Cosby’s defence team said they were were the over-the-counter allergy drug Benadryl.
The prosecution called five other women to the stand during the trial, in an attempt to prove a pattern of behaviour by Cosby. All of the women testified that the comedian had plied them with drugs or alcohol before sexually assaulting them.
But Mr Snyder said he would have reached the same conclusion without hearing from the other women.
“In the deposition [Cosby] stated that he gave these drugs to other women,” Mr Snyder said. “I don’t think it necessarily mattered that these other five women were here because he said it himself.”
More than 50 women have publicly accused Cosby of sexually assaulting them, often with the help of drugs or alcohol.
Mr Snyder said he knew little of Cosby, and nothing of the charges against him, before entering the courtroom. He also knew little about the “Me Too” movement, in which dozens of women have come forwards with allegations of sexual assault against powerful, male celebrities.
“I really only found out about it after I got home and I looked online to see what everything was,” Mr Snyder said.
Cosby’s attorneys have promised to appeal the ruling, and Mr Snyder said online commenters have questioned his decision as well. To them, he said: “If you were there, you would say the same thing. You would say he was guilty.”
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