Bill Cosby's first accuser has asked a judge to release the comedian's deposition in her sex-assault lawsuit, saying that Cosby, his lawyers and agents broke the confidentiality agreement that sealed the 2006 court settlement.
Andrea Constand's lawyer argued in a sanctions motion on Wednesday that the entire deposition should be made public, including questions Cosby answered under oath about his use of quaaludes and other drugs, his alleged use of hush money to silence women, his deal to have an accuser's story spiked and his alleged affairs with other women.
Her lawyer said Cosby and his representatives broke the confidentiality agreement with public comments made time and again, but Constand has been powerless to respond.
"The release of these documents will assist other women who have been victimised and bring awareness that sexual assault is not just committed with a gun or knife but is also committed by mentors who engage in exploitative behaviors," Lawyer Dolores M. Troiani wrote in asking the judge to sanction Cosby and his lawyers.
The motion comes after US District Judge Eduardo Robreno unsealed excerpts from Cosby's deposition this week in response to an AP request, concluding that the public had a right to see "the stark contrast" between Cosby, the public moralist and the statements he made under oath about his lifestyle and conduct.
The excerpts show Cosby admitting that he obtained quaaludes in the 1970s so that he could give them to young women he pursued for extramarital sex. Asked if they knew what they were taking, his lawyers objected and he never answered.
Frustrated by their attempts to dodge questions, Troiani went to court then to force Cosby and his lawyers to cooperate in the pre-trial deposition.
She asked that Robreno to force the comedian to answer 50 questions about his lifestyle, drug use and sexual encounters with 13 other "Jane Doe" women who had come forward to say Cosby had molested and perhaps drugged them years earlier.
The deposition eventually proceeded. And Troiani now wants his answers to those questions made public.
