Harrison Snyder is a 22-year-old man from Pennsylvania who admittedly doesn’t watch the news and is too young to be familiar with Bill Cosby‘s television history, so he didn’t know much before sitting down as a juror in the comedian’s recent criminal case. Without any preconceived notions or prior opinions, Snyder revealed that it was Cosby’s own words from a deposition that ultimately convinced him that the once-beloved actor was guilty of sexual assaulting Andrea Constand.
“Mr. Cosby admitted to giving these Quaaludes to women, young women, in order to have sex with them,” Snyder said in a Good Morning America interview, referring to statements Cosby made during a deposition. Constand accused Cosby of drugging her when he assaulted her in 2004.
Rather than putting great weight on the several other women who took the stand who have accused Cosby of assault, Snyder said it was Cosby’s own admission of providing drugs that convinced him to reach a guilty verdict.
ABC Chief Legal Analyst and Law&Crime founder Dan Abrams said that this could be key for the prosecution should Cosby appeal, because defense attorneys sometimes look to jurors’ comments after a trial. Here it appears that the testimony of the other accusers, which was controversial because it dealt with past acts and not Constand’s own allegations, didn’t necessarily play a role.
“This provides no fodder for the defense at all,” Abrams said, “because he’s saying it wasn’t the five other women, which would be the most controversial issue.”
Snyder said that he did not think it was an open and shut case when he began, and that he barely knew anything about Cosby when the trial started.
“I really didn’t know a lot,” he said. “I knew he was an actor.”
As far as the allegations, Snyder claimed he knew even less.
“I didn’t know anything … I didn’t even know what he was on trial for.”
In addition to Cosby’s deposition, Snyder said that an expert witness played a role as well. The prosecution’s first witness said that a victim’s inconsistent statements and a delay in reporting an assault are normal.
Abrams noted how significant this was.
“What I found so interesting, is it’s a reminder that expert testimony does matter,” Abrams said. “This guy’s making it clear that the expert who testified about what it means to be a victim mattered to him.”
[Image via ABC screengrab]
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