Bill Cosby found guilty of sexually assaulting minor
Infamous comedian Bill Cosby sexually assaulted a minor in 1975 at Los Angeles' Playboy Mansion, a California jury determined on Tuesday. The victim Judy Huth (now 64) was 16 while Cosby (now 84) was 37. Ruling in favor of Huth, the jury has ordered Cosby to pay $5,00,000 in damages. The case was filed in 2014 but kept getting delayed. Trigger warning: Sexual assault.
The jury concluded that Cosby had indeed met Huth at a movie set, made her drink alcohol, and subsequently sexually assaulted her. As per lawyers, Cosby also escorted Huth's friend Donna Samuelson to Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion. Finding himself alone with Huth, he kissed her and "tried to put his hands inside her clothes before forcing her to perform a sexual act on him."
Cosby didn't attend the hearing in person but his videotape shot in 2015 was played in court where he denied all the allegations. The trial went on for over two weeks in Santa Monica, California. Huth's lawyer, Nathan Goldberg said about his client, "Memories came rushing to the surface...she became overwhelmed by memories of Mr. Cosby and what he had done."
Huth became confident in standing her ground after seeing multiple women vocalizing their distressing experiences with Cosby. Speaking to media outside the California Superior Court in Santa Monica, a relieved Huth said, "It's been so many years, so many tears. It's been a long time coming." Three other women, who had also accused Cosby, were present in the court and said they felt "vindicated."
Cosby's spokesman Andrew Wyatt said, "Mr. Cosby continues to maintain innocence and will vigorously fight these false accusations so that he can get back to bringing the pursuit of happiness, joy, and laughter to the world." Notably, although the jury largely gravitated toward Huth, they also said that she didn't provide "clear and convincing evidence" of Cosby acting with "malice, oppression, or fraud."
Cosby is not new to criminal offenses. In 2018, he was jailed in Pennsylvania for molesting a woman. However, Cosby was set free in 2021 after his conviction was overturned. Once dubbed as "America's Dad" due to his role in The Cosby Show, he has been slammed by over 50 women who have accused him of sexual assaults over a period spanning four decades.
