Bill Cosby’s Quaalude Deposition Not His Ally In Attempts To Dismiss Sex Assault Charges

As Bill Cosby fights for his freedom and his reputation, a deposition he gave regarding his giving Quaaludes to a woman back in 2005 might be the straw that broke the camel’s back as far as public perception goes. Bill Cosby’s deposition was recently released by the LA Times, and it paints a picture of a man who was at least, not as faithful to his wife, Camille as the couple would like the public to believe.

The deposition isn’t going to help him when it comes to dismissing the charges, something he’ll attempt to do in Montgomery County, Alabama courtroom next month. The Montgomery Media reports Judge Steven T. O’Neill has given the prosecution until Monday, June 20 to file an answer to Cosby’s request to dismiss charges that were filed back in December. At the same time the judge set that deadline, he also scheduled a hearing for the request to go down on July 7.

In order to avoid a full-fledged trial. Defense attorneys want O’Neill to look at the ruling that was handed down last month by Judge Elizabeth McHugh. Should the hearing not go the way the defense team wants it to go, it could mean Bill Cosby will have to go to a full-fledged trial sometime this fall. One of the big issues that is going to weigh on the judge’s mind is what a transcript of a deposition that was made public just a few months ago means for the trial.

The deposition is a question-and-answer session between the attorneys for Andrea Constand and the legendary comic and commercial pitchman. In that deposition from about 10 years ago, the funnyman admits that he gave Constand Quaaludes, though he insisted even back then that he thought it was what she wanted. He also claimed his sexual advances and eventual sexual dalliance was something the woman wanted as well.

While he’s claiming the affair between the two was never something she specifically said yes to, he asserted in the deposition it was also something she never said no to what he was doing either. During this deposition, Cosby says he offered the Quaaludes to the woman because she had talked about feeling stressed out. Though he has been accused numerous times of slipping drugs to women and then engaging in sexual acts with them, he claims in this instance, Constand knew exactly what she was taking and what she was doing.

The LA Times shows in its excerpt of the deposition how Cosby framed the encounter.

“I didn’t say it verbally, I said. The action is my hand on her midriff, which is skin. I’m not lifting any clothing up. This is, I don’t remember fully what it is, but it’s there and I can feel. I got her skin and it’s just above the hand and it’s just above where you can go under the pants.”

He is then asked by the woman’s lawyer what happened next, and he claims “I don’t hear her say anything. And I don’t feel her say anything. And so I continue, and I go into the area that is somewhere between permission and rejection. I am not stopped.” It is here where the famous comedian is in direct conflict with the woman who has accused him of drugging her and sexually abusing her. It is the fact that he is at odds with Constand’s recounting of the incident that has put him in the crosshairs of the legal system. Somehow, should he want to have the charges dropped, Bill Cosby and his lawyers are going to need to convince a judge he’s the one telling the truth.

[Photo by Matt Rourke-Pool/Getty Images]