Cosby Accuser: Damning Testimony a 'Positive Step'

A lawyer for a woman who says Bill Cosby drugged and assaulted her when she was 19 says the unsealing of portions of his 2005 testimony is a "significant and positive step." Therese Serignese went public with the allegations last November. She says Cosby assaulted her after a show in Las Vegas around 1976, after she went backstage and he gave her two pills and a glass of water. Cosby admitted giving her quaaludes and having sex but wasn't asked in the testimony if the encounter was consensual. The AP went to court to compel the release of the documents, which were made public yesterday. Cosby's lawyers had objected on the grounds it would embarrass him.

Serignese and two other women are suing Cosby for defamation. Her lawyer says the unsealed documents support allegations the women were drugged and abused. Lawyer Gloria Allred says she hopes to use Cosby's testimony in other cases, adding that "this confirms the allegations of numerous victims who have alleged that he had used drugs to sexually assault them." She says "this admission is one that Mr. Cosby has attempted to hide from the public for many years and we are very gratified that it is now being made public." The lawyer for model Janice Dickinson said in a statement last night, "How dare he publicly vilify Ms. Dickinson and accuse her of lying when she tells a very similar story?" (More Bill Cosby stories.)