In the last two weeks, six more women have come forward to say Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them, bringing the total number of accusers to more than 40. And one of those cases raises the prospect that Cosby may actually be indicted on sexual assault charges at some point.
One of the new accusers was Lili Bernard, who made a guest appearance on “The Cosby Show” in its eighth and final season. On Friday, she joined another accuser, writer Sammi Mays, to go public with their claims against Cosby. Both are being represented by Gloria Allred, who represents at least 17 of the accusers. Bernard claims that Cosby drugged and assaulted her at a “mentoring session” in the 1990s before telling her that she “didn’t exist” and to never let him see her face again.
The accusations against Cosby date as far back as the 1960s. Most of them took place in states where the statute of limitations has long since expired. However, Bernard claims Cosby may have attacked her in New Jersey, one of the few states where there is no statute of limitations on sexual assault. Bernard was certain enough that she was assaulted in New Jersey that she reported it to Atlantic City police on Thursday. She and Allred spent five hours being questioned by detectives.
One can hope that Cosby has the decency not to do what he did to several of his other accusers–subject them to a smear campaign in which anything even remotely negative in their pasts is fair game. Never mind that they’re private people. And the last time this scandal flared up a decade ago, Cosby threatened to sell negative information on one accuser to the press. It’s one thing to mount a vigorous defense, but this kind of behavior goes several miles over the line. And that would be the case even if Cosby is innocent.
