Bill Cosby’s key defense witness gave a devastating account on Wednesday of how the celebrity’s main accuser in his retrial talked to her about framing a celebrity before going to police with her allegations of sexual assault in 2005.



Marguerite Jackson, who was an academic adviser at Temple University in Philadelphia when Andrea Constand – Cosby’s main accuser - worked there testified that Constand told her she could fabricate sexual assault allegations and then “get that money” from a civil lawsuit.

Jackson was not permitted to take the stand in Cosby’s original trial last year, which ended in a mistrial.

Jackson was immediately challenged by prosecutors on Wednesday at Cosby’s sexual assault retrial at Montgomery county court in Pennsylvania, which began this month.

Prosecutors suggested Jackson wasn’t even on the university basketball trip to Rhode Island in 2004 during which she says she had her conversation with Constand.

Jackson testified that she and Constand watched a TV news report about a celebrity who had been accused of sexual assault, and Constand told her: “Oh wow, something similar happened to me,” but that she hadn’t reported the assault because her assailant was a “high-profile person” and she wouldn’t be able to prove it.

Jackson told the court she encouraged Constand to report it but at that point Constand switched gears and said the assault didn’t actually happen, adding: “But I could say it did. I could say it happened, get that money. I could quit my job.”

Constand says Cosby had drugged and molested her at his suburban Philadelphia home a few weeks earlier. Cosby paid Constand nearly $3.4m in a civil settlement in 2006. He denies the criminal charges.

Constand testified on Monday she didn’t “recall ever having a conversation with” Jackson.

The defense team was not able to verify that Jackson went on the trip to Rhode Island where she said Constand hinted at extortion.

Cosby, 80, is being retried on charges he drugged Constand with cold medicine then molested her at his suburban Philadelphia home.

The prosecution wound up its case on Wednesday morning after re-airing previous, devastating depositions from Cosby in which he admitted he used to give women quaaludes before sex.

The defense put Jackson on the stand on Wednesday afternoon as its key witness and will continue to argue its case on Thursday.