Prosecutor to Cosby jury: 'Tell truth about what he did'

NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- The jury in Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial was poised to begin deliberating after prosecutors Tuesday portrayed the 80-year-old former TV star as a serial predator who drugged and molested a woman 14 years ago. The defense called Cosby's accuser a "pathological liar" who was seeking a big payday.

The first big celebrity trial of the #MeToo era pitted Cosby, the beloved comedian whose career and good-guy reputation were destroyed by a barrage of allegations involving drugs and sex, against a former Temple University women's basketball administrator who testified he gave her pills and violated her at his suburban Philadelphia mansion.

Five other women got on the witness stand and testified the same thing had happened to them.

"The time for the defendant to escape justice is over. It's finally time for the defendant to dine on the banquet of his own consequences," prosecutor Stewart Ryan told jurors in a passionate closing argument stretching more than three hours and was delivered by two prosecutors.

The defense urged jurors to acquit Cosby on charges he assaulted Constand, his chief accuser, saying they were based on "flimsy, silly, ridiculous evidence."

Cosby faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault, each carrying up to 10 years in prison. The jury at his first trial deliberated for more than 52 hours over six days last year without reaching a verdict.

Defense attorneys Tom Mesereau and Kathleen Bliss said in their closing argument Constand consented to sexual activity, then leveled false accusations against the "Cosby Show" star so she could sue him and extract a big settlement.

Constand received nearly $3.4 million from Cosby over a decade ago -- a settlement Mesereau argued was "one of the biggest highway robberies of all time."

"You're dealing with a pathological liar, members of the jury," said Mesereau, who won an acquittal in Michael Jackson's 2005 child-molestation case. "You are."

Cosby's wife of 54 years looked on from the gallery as his lawyers pleaded with the jury to clear him, the first time she has attended the trial. Camille Cosby, 74, had stayed away as the prosecution built its case her husband maintained a sordid double life, plying women with drugs and preying on them sexually.

Before the jury came in, she went to the defense table and put her arm around Cosby, who is legally blind. They embraced, smiled and chatted, and he gave her a peck on the cheek.

When it was the prosecution's turn to argue, Camille Cosby left the courtroom, and Constand entered.

Constand, 45, alleges Cosby knocked her out with three pills he called "your friends" and molested her in January 2004. Her account was bolstered by the testimony of five other women who took the stand and said Cosby had drugged and assaulted them, too -- including one woman who asked him through her tears, "You remember, don't you, Mr. Cosby?"

The defense ripped into the other accusers Tuesday, saying they were motivated by the prospect of money and fame to fabricate their accounts.