Cosby Defense Tried One Last Time to Limit Quaaludes Testimony

Bill Cosby’s defense team made one last effort to limit testimony about Quaaludes at Cosby’s sexual assault trial.

Defense lawyers Brian J. McMonagle and Angela C. Agrusa fought to prevent a forensic toxicologist from testifying for prosecutors about the effects of Quaaludes on an individual who consumes them, according to court documents released on Friday.

Brian McMonagle & Angela Agrusa/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr.

But that attempt failed and Dr. Timothy Rohrig testified on Friday as one of the last prosecution witnesses during the fifth day of Cosby’s sexual assault trial before Judge Steven T. O’Neill. Cosby, 79, is accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with Andrea Constand, a former Temple University athletic department employee, at his Cheltenham home after plying her with blue pills and wine sometime between mid-January and mid-February 2004.

McMonagle and Agrusa argued in court papers that Rohrig was initially identified by prosecutors to testify regarding “the general effects of Diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl.” McMonagle claimed prosecutors later put forth Rohrig’s opinions regarding “the general pharmacology of methaqualone, more commonly known as Quaaludes.”

Defense Lawyer Brian J. McMonagle/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr.

“Rohrig should be precluded from testifying regarding Quaaludes because there is not a scintilla of evidence in this case that Quaaludes were involved in the alleged encounter with Andrea Constand,” McMonagle and Agrusa wrote in court papers.

McMonagle and Agrusa maintained Rohrig’s testimony regarding Quaaludes “could only serve to confuse and prejudice the jury,” and therefore should be excluded.

“Rohrig’s carefully parsed phrasing, that Ms. Constand’s symptoms “do not exclude the possibility” that she ingested Quaaludes or some other unidentified and speculative central nervous system depressant drug highlights that his opinion is based on pure conjecture, untethered to any evidence in this case,” the defense team added.

While prosecutors have not specifically identified what they believe Cosby gave to Constand, with the evidence presented to the jury, they suggested it could have been Quaaludes or Benadryl. Testimony revealed Benadryl did come in a blue pill form around the time of the alleged incident.

Bill Cosby Leaves Montgomery County Courthouse/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr.

During the trial, District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and co-prosecutors Kristen Feden and M. Stewart Ryan presented the jury Cosby’s police statements and his 2005 testimony in a deposition connected with a civil suit brought by Constand in which he said he gave Constand “the equivalent of one and a half” Benadryl when Constand was “talking about stress.”

Prosecutors have also presented the jury with Cosby’s deposition testimony that he obtained Quaaludes, a 1970s party drug, in the past to give to young women with whom he wanted to have sex.

When asked if he ever gave the Quaaludes to the young women without their knowledge, Cosby responded, “No,” according to his deposition testimony. Cosby also claimed that he did not have any Quaaludes, which were banned in the U.S. in the 1980s, in his possession or in any of his residences around the time he met Constand in 2002.

Montgomery County DA Kevin Steele/Photo by Carl Hessler Jr.

Rohrig testified the symptoms described by Constand could be consistent with Benadryl.

“It can cause significant sedation. It is a central nervous system depressant. It can and has been used as a drug to facilitate sexual assaults,” testified Rohrig, adding Quaaludes, are also sedatives and can cause similar side-effects.

Stay tuned. I’ll have daily reports for Digital First Media publications when the trial resumes on Monday. You can also find breaking Cosby news by following @MontcoCourtNews on Twitter.