The first accuser to testify at Bill Cosby's retrial, Heidi Thomas, described the comedian Wednesday as "a serial rapist" as she parried with his lawyers, while second accuser Chelan Lasha tearfully confronted the comedian over a 32-year-old assault allegation: "You remember, don't you, Mr. Cosby?" The courtroom dramatics prompted mistrial requests from Cosby's lawyers as prosecutors began putting on a parade of women who say Cosby drugged and molested them long before he met Andrea Constand, the chief accuser in his sexual assault retrial. According to Page Six, a third accuser on Wednesday, Janice Baker-Kinney, testified that she accepted pills from Cosby at a 1982 pizza party and that she later woke up in bed with him feeling as if she'd had sex the night prior but had no memory of it.
Attorneys hope the additional accusers could also help insulate Constand from the defense's contention that she is a "con artist" who preyed on Cosby's vulnerability after the 1997 killing of his son, Ennis, and then framed him to score a big payday via a $3.4 million civil settlement. Constand, a former Temple University women's basketball administrator, alleges Cosby gave her pills and then molested her. He says the encounter was consensual. Cosby, 80, is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. His first trial last year ended in a hung jury.
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