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Bill Cosby may have been released from prison just under one year ago, thanks to the overturn of his conviction on criminal sexual assault charges by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. But the disgraced 84-year-old comedian will now have to address another sexual assault case, and proceedings began yesterday in the state of California.
Judy Huth, 64, first filed her civil suit against Cosby in 2014, and she alleges the comedian plied her with alcohol and took advantage of her when she was 16-years-old while visiting the Playboy Mansion during the 1970s.
Per the Associated Press, Cosby will not be able to make the trip because of his glaucoma. The trial is expected to take two weeks, and the presiding judge said Cosby would not be forced to attend the trial in person. He also determined the comedian will be allowed to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights to avoid prosecution for sexual assault in California or other jurisdictions. However, Cosby did provide a deposition by video.
“While [the] defendant does not deny that he socialized with plaintiff at the Playboy Mansion, as he did other women and men who frequented the club,” his attorneys admitted, as reported by The New York Times, “[the] defendant vehemently denies that plaintiff was underage.” And they plan to use photos of the pair when Huth was 18, which would greatly lessen the severity of any damages to be incurred by Cosby.
But Huth’s legal team contends she was indeed a teenager when Cosby supposedly violated her. They also intend to present their own series of photos and evidence to prove the encounter happened when she was 16 and was nonconsensual.
Huth will also have a number of supporters in her corner during the next two weeks at well in the courtroom. Victoria Valentino, one of the 60 women who filed a suit against Cosby and an ex-Playboy Bunny who claims he drugged and raped her more than half a century ago, sees this case as one of the final opportunities for vindication. She told the NYTimes the following via text: “I think that Judy’s trial may be our last stand for justice and seeing accountability come to fruition in our stand against Bill Cosby.”
