BIll Cosby Rape Trial: Four Key Points

A judge has ruled the the sex assault case against Bill Cosby will mover forward. A trial date will eventually be set and it appears the 78 year old actor will soon have the opportunity to face his accuser in court.

Here are four key points that will play a major role in the trial:

1 Credibilty of Witnesses. At trial the case will come down to the credibility of the accusing witness Andrea Constand. There is no physical evidence. The issue is consent. In this case the Constand delayed her report to the police. In fact she went to Cosby’s house on two more occasions after the alleged assault. She also claims that Cosby made two inappropriate advances on her before the assault. Prosecutors will carefully prepare Constand so that she appears sensible and her delayed outcry can be explained.

2. Motive. The criminal defense attorneys must prove to the jury that Constand has some motive to make up a story. No doubt they will try to make it about the money: She did sue Cosby and settled for an undisclosed amount of money.

3. Pretrial Publicity.This case has received a tremendous amount of pretrial publicity. Every juror in the jury pool will have followed the case to some extent. Most of the publicity is bad for Cosby. His lawyers must identify the jurors who will hold the most bias against their client and eliminate them from the jury pool.

4. Other Victims. There are many other women who have come forward and accused Cosby of sexually assaulting them. At some point in the trial the prosecutors will try and convince the judge that some of these other victims should be allowed to testify. If that happens then Cosby will b en serious trouble. The more victims the jury hears, the greater chance that Cosby will be convicted. The defense will fight very hard to keep this type of testimony from coming before the jury.