Witness for Bill Cosby Accuser Says Sex Assault Memories Not Eroded by Time

The impression of sexual assault on reminiscence turned the main focus Thursday of the civil trial in Los Angeles the place Invoice Cosby has been sued by a girl, Judy Huth, who says he sexually assaulted her when she was a youngster, some 47 years in the past.

Barbara E. Ziv, a forensic psychiatrist and an skilled in sexual assault and rape, stated that traumatic reminiscences from sexual assault “are encoded strongly” deep within the mind and are “much less prone to erode over time.”

Victims of such occasions can recall the small print of their trauma a few years, even a long time later, she testified.

“Traumatic reminiscences are encoded strongly and that’s the reason they’re much less prone to neglect,” Dr. Ziv stated.

Dr. Ziv was known as to testify by the legal professionals for Ms. Huth, who says she was sexually assaulted by Mr. Cosby on the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 1975, when she was 16. Ms. Huth didn’t come ahead to file a lawsuit till 2014, when, she says in her lawsuit, she realized the emotional harm she had suffered later in her life had been the results of what she described because the assault.

However the accuracy of her reminiscence and the lapse in time earlier than she publicly accused Mr. Cosby have been focal factors for his protection staff as they work to discredit Ms. Huth’s account.

Dr. Ziv stated in court docket that it will possibly take a very long time for an individual to make sense of what occurred throughout a sexual assault, and afterward it is not uncommon for victims to not report an assault as a result of they’re ashamed. “Most individuals simply wish to put it behind them,” Dr. Ziv stated.

Mr. Cosby has denied he sexually assaulted Ms. Huth, or any of the opposite girls who’ve come ahead lately to accuse him of sexual misconduct.

Ms. Huth’s lawsuit, filed in 2014, is likely one of the final unsettled lawsuits towards Mr. Cosby. It had largely been placed on maintain whereas prosecutors in Pennsylvania pursued him criminally on fees that he sexually assaulted Andrea Constand. Mr. Cosby’s 2018 conviction in that case was overturned final yr on due course of grounds by an appellate court docket.

Ms. Huth says in her swimsuit that she was assaulted in 1975, a number of days after she and a good friend met Mr. Cosby on a film set in a park in San Marino, Calif., the place he was taking pictures a movie.

Days after the primary assembly, at Mr. Cosby’s invitation, the 2 girls went to his tennis membership, Ms. Huth’s legal professionals have stated, drank alcohol he provided and adopted him of their automotive to the Playboy Mansion. As soon as there, Ms. Huth has stated, Mr. Cosby pressured her to carry out a intercourse act on him in a bed room.

In disputing Ms. Huth’s account, Mr. Cosby’s legal professionals have challenged her recollection of their assembly, suggesting it had occurred years after when she stated it did, when she was not a minor. Of their opening remarks, his legal professionals sought to discredit the account by stating that the ladies, by their very own accounts, remained on the Playboy Mansion for hours after the alleged encounter with Mr. Cosby, swimming within the pool, mixing with well-known actors, and watching a film.

The trial is anticipated to final seven to 10 days and is being held on the Santa Monica department of Los Angeles Superior Court docket. Mr. Cosby, 84, just isn’t scheduled to testify and has not attended the opening days of testimony, however his deposition testimony is anticipated to be performed in court docket. Ms. Huth, 64, who has been in attendance, is planning to offer her account to the jury.

On Thursday, Ms. Huth’s legal professionals started presenting proof from a girl who they are saying was 14 when Mr. Cosby out of the blue tried to kiss her in his trailer on a distinct set of the identical film because the one he was filming when he encountered Ms. Huth. However testimony ended earlier than the lady, Kimberly Burr, may present a lot of her account. She is scheduled to take the stand once more on Friday.

The good friend who accompanied Ms. Huth to the Playboy Mansion, Donna Samuelson, has already testified, telling the court docket that Ms. Huth was distraught after the alleged encounter with Mr. Cosby. Ms. Samuelson stated Ms. Huth had wished to depart, however that she had persuaded her good friend to remain for a number of hours to settle down. She stated that they had agreed to maintain the encounter a secret as a result of Ms. Huth felt embarrassed and humiliated.

Ms. Huth’s recollection of when the encounter occurred has modified. She initially stated that it had occurred in 1974, when she was 15. However extra lately she concluded that it was really in 1975, when she was 16.

She reported her accusation to the police in 2014, however prosecutors declined to file legal fees as a result of the statute of limitations had handed.

Ms. Huth was capable of file a lawsuit as a result of below California legislation, in some circumstances, the statute of limitations may be prolonged for individuals who say they solely lately acknowledged as adults the harm carried out by a repressed incident of sexual abuse they skilled as a baby.

Her legal professionals have stated she got here ahead in 2014 after her son turned 15 and as many different girls had been reporting comparable accusations of sexual abuse by Mr. Cosby.

Mr. Cosby has up to now confronted a number of different civil circumstances filed towards him by girls, lots of whom sued him for defamation after his authorized staff dismissed as fictions their accusations of sexual misconduct.

Eleven civil circumstances resulted in settlements, 10 of which had been agreed to by Mr. Cosby’s former insurance coverage firm over his objections, based on his spokesman.

Mr. Cosby additionally settled a civil case Ms. Constand introduced towards him in 2006 for $3.4 million.