A phone conversation between one of Bill Cosby's 60 accusers and her mother may be barred from his retrial if his legal team has it their way, according to TMZ.
Andrea Constand reportedly called her mother in early 2005 to tell her about a sexual assault that took place a year before that. In that incident, she claims she was drugged and molested by Cosby, but his lawyers see the call as "hearsay" that should not be played in court for the jury. With his legal team also trying to limit how many women are able to testify at the re-trial, it makes sense they would ask for this to be disallowed as well.
Constand is just one of dozens of women who came forward in the last few years, and in the decades prior, for assaults that date back to the 1960s, with her own incident taking place in 2004 when she worked at Temple University. While the statute of limitations has run out for many of the accusers, Constand's case came back up from a civil suit settlement in 2006. Criminal charges stemming from the assault were filed in 2015 after the original deposition from 2005 was unsealed. Earlier this year, it was also discovered that Constand was paid $3.5 million in that 2006 settlement.
Constand and her mother Gianna both testified in Cosby's original trial in 2017, mentioning the phone call then as well. Gianna claims her daughter called her and told her that Cosby had given her three blue pills before touching her without consent at his home in Philadelphia. That trial ended in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. A new trial is set to start in April.
Cosby is facing three counts of aggravated sexual assault against Constand and could serve up to 10 years behind bars if found guilty. Cosby has pled not guilty to the accusations.
