Bill Cosby’s Defense Team Looks to Give His Reputation a Makeover at Trial

April 29, 2017 5:00 am
How Bill Cosby's Attorneys Plan to Defend Him at Trial
Stand-up comedian, actor, Bill Cosby leaving the Montgomery County Courthouse after Bill Cosby Change Of Venue Hearing on February 27, 2017 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images)
How Bill Cosby's Attorneys Plan to Defend Him at Trial
Stand-up comedian, actor, Bill Cosby leaving the Montgomery County Courthouse after Bill Cosby Change Of Venue Hearing on February 27, 2017 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. (Gilbert Carrasquillo/Getty Images)

 

Disgraced comedian and TV personality Bill Cosby, who has been accused of drugging and raping 58 women, is due in court on June 5. And his attorney, Angela Agrusa, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about her defense tactics, which are decidedly nontraditional.

Agrusa told the industry trade that she “can’t identify one other case in which the public has so conclusively come to the verdict of guilty.” The trial, for which Cosby stands accused of sexually assaulting one of the women who have accused him—Andrea Constand, at the time an employee of his alma mater Temple University—will take place in Norristown, Pennsylvania. If convicted, note THR, Cosby could be sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Agrusa went on to say that the trial’s almost like “an appeal,” in the sense that the public’s already convicted him. As THR explains, “So pervasive is the presumption of guilt surrounding Cosby that the normal rules of a criminal defense—go for an acquittal at all costs, including the client’s loss of public standing—do not apply.”

So that has made for the defense’s tactic of trying to restore Cosby’s reputation while on trial—as well as waging a silent battle via Cosby’s social media handles, showing people that he’s winning battles against his accusers. “There is this sort of perversion of taking down our icons. But everyone loves a comeback story,” Agrusa told THR. “Mr. Cosby’s social media referenced these recent and positive rulings as a way to help rehabilitate his reputation, shift the tide and regain the stature, to get people to think more critically about making a judgment.”

Read more about the Bill Cosby defense strategy at The Hollywood Reporter

Watch the viral video from standup comedian Hannibal Buress that helped reignite the accusations against Cosby.

—RealClearLife

 

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