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Bill Cosby says he won't testify at June trial

The Philadelphia Inquirer

May 17, 2017 at 3:30AM

Bill Cosby, who goes on trial June 5 on a charge of aggravated indecent assault, said Tuesday that he does not plan to testify. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

PHILADELPHIA – Bill Cosby said Tuesday he won't testify in his own defense at his sex assault trial in Norristown, Pa., next month because it would expose him to cross-examination.

"I just don't want to sit there and have to figure out what I believe is a truthful answer as to whether or not I'm opening a can of something that my lawyers are scrambling," he said in an interview with Sirius XM radio host Michael Smerconish.

Just a week before jury selection is set to begin in Pittsburgh, Cosby sat for the nearly 30-minute interview.

Cosby, 79, declined to discuss the allegations against him in detail. But, in his often long and rambling responses to questions, the famed TV dad and comic, said he feels that the charges against him could be racially motivated and that so many women came forward accusing him of sexual assault as a "piling on" to sway public opinion against him. He called the allegations "the attack at me," and said he hopes to be acquitted and return to performing.

"I know the side that I'm on and the side that I'm hoping for," Cosby said. "And after that there's more work to be done."

The interview was Cosby's first broadcast interview in more than two years. He also gave an interview for a Black Press USA article last month. As dozens of women came forward in recent years with allegations of sexual misconduct against him and he was charged with indecent aggravated assault of Andrea Constand, he remained silent.

"I decided I think it's time for me to do something," Cosby told Smerconish.

Cosby is scheduled to face trial June 5 on a charge of aggravated indecent assault for allegedly drugging and molesting Constand, the former operations director for Temple University's women's basketball program, in his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. Jurors selected in Pittsburgh will be sequestered in Montgomery County during the trial.

Cosby insisted that he was not aiming his interview — and recent statements released by his daughters — to sway potential jurors.

Statements from two of Cosby's daughters, Ensa and Erinn, first aired Monday on "The Breakfast Club," a syndicated morning show on a New York radio station.

"I believe that racism has played a big role in all aspects of this scandal. … My father has been publicly lynched by the media," Ensa Cosby said.

Asked by Smerconish about that comment, Cosby signaled that he agreed.

"Could be, could be. I can't say anything but there are certain things that I look at and apply to the situation," he said. "There are so many tentacles, so many different — nefarious is a great word — and I just truly believe that some of it may very well be that."

Cosby remained upbeat throughout the interview, often joking and chuckling in response to Smerconish's questions. He grew heated only when Smerconish asked whether he believed all of his accusers were lying.

"You know better than that," he admonished the radio host. "I won't and I cannot answer that. It's really not fair and you know that, because all I have to do is say something similar to that and the next thing I know the postman is carrying a big bag [and] they're saying 'Defamation, defamation, defamation.' "