Jury may soon hear from Cosby, even if he doesn't take stand

Later that day, Constand testified, Cosby groped her breast, and placed her hand on his penis.

Demonstrating Constand's awareness of Cosby's romantic interest would have little bearing on whether she gave consent during the interaction in question.

"Yes ma'am, I said I was mistaken", Ms Constand replied.

Shortly, Andrea's mother Gianna Constand took the witness stand and she tearfully testified against the 79-year-old Little Bill actor.

Constand's initial statement to Canadian police on January 13 alleged that the assault at Cosby's home happened after they had gone to dinner on March 16 with representatives of Philadelphia's Central High School. In 2005, Constand told police in Canada, where she was living at the time, that the assault happened on March 16, 2004.

He offered to pay for the younger Constand's therapy.

The real underlying argument that the defense is making, though, is that the sexual encounters that the women have been sufficiently mendacious or manipulated enough to call assault were actually consensual.

Cosby lawyer Angela Agrusa... Allred immediately left the courtroom and was allowed back in after a break.

"My reaction was, I was very upset and angry", she told the courtroom. The judge did not specify how the reporter violated the decorum rules, or what the penalty could be. Cosby has earlier stated that the alleged assault was consensual between the two, the Inquirer reported.

The testimony was Constand's first public comment on the case, according to NPR member station WHYY. She was on the stand for seven hours.

Defense attorneys pointed to phone records showing that Constand called Cosby 53 times after the alleged assault.

But Constand said she was returning calls Cosby made to her university-issued cellphone about the basketball team. Cosby's legal team attempted to show that Constand's prior statements now appear to be contradictory.

Constand - whose testimony continued on Wednesday - was the sixth witness in the trial, which is expected to last two weeks.

She hopes to show Constand changed her mind about the date of the alleged 2004 assault after reviewing them. Ms Constand says the officers simply never asked.

"I would ask her Andrea, what are you thinking about?" she said.

Cosby attended Temple in the 1970s, and he then received an honorary doctorate and worked as a trustee.

During cross-examination, the defense tried to get Constand to say that she and Cosby had romantic liaisons before the night in question.

"I felt really humiliated and I was really confused", Constand said, wiping tears from her eyes. The larger picture being painted is clear: If you make claims of sexual assault, the journey to possible justice is long, difficult, full of roadblocks, and sometimes completely fruitless.

Frazier is best-known for her starring role in the 1972 cult blaxploitation film, "Super Fly".

Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played his daughter Rudy on the 1984-1992 sitcom, attended the opening statements, but there was no sign of Cosby's wife, Camille. Andrea Constand emerged from 12 years of silence Tuesday to testify.

Constand, an athletic 6-footer with dark curly hair, was calm and collected as she testified, looking at the jury as she began describing the assault.

Ms Agrusa contended that the advances Cosby made on Ms Constand on two occasions - touching her thigh one time, and attempting to unbutton her trousers and pull down her zip another - signalled his romantic interest. "He said to me, 'Mom, she even had an orgasm, '" she added.

Cosby could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.

"He admitted he was a sick man", Gianna Constand said. "She thought of him as a mentor, a father", she said, attempting to keep her composure.

Bill Cosby and Andrea Constand.

About half an hour later, Constand said, she had trouble talking and difficulty moving and was suffering double vision.

Constand has told jurors how her professional relationship with the Temple University trustee evolved into a friendship.