Bill Cosby found guilty of abusing a teen at the Playboy Mansion

Bill Cosby has once again been found guilty of abuse following a two-week-long trial. The 84-year-old was found guilty by a civil jury that ruled in favor of Judy Huth. Huth accused Cosby of abusing her when she was 16 years old at the Playboy Mansion.

Cosby appeared by video at the Santa Monica, California, courtroom on June 21 while the verdict was read. According to The New York Times, the jury deliberated on the case since June 16.

The jury awarded $500,000 in damages to Huth, aged 64. In her testimony, Huth (pictured left) said that Cosby touched her inappropriately in a bedroom in the Playboy Mansion when she was only 16.

In 2014 Huth filed a lawsuit against Cosby seeking damages for emotional distress; however, at the time, she claimed she met the comedian in 1975 when she and a friend were watching a movie being made at a park in Los Angeles. Huth said that Cosby approached the girls and asked them to sit with him - Cosby was 37 years old at the time.

According to Huth, Cosby invited the girls to a tennis club with him the following Saturday, where he gave the underage girls alcoholic drinks while playing pool. After several drinks, Huth said that Cosby then surprised them by taking them to a party at the Playboy Mansion. Cosby also told the girls that if anyone were to ask, they should say they were 19.

At the party, Bill Cosby took advantage of a moment alone with Huth and then proceeded to abuse her in a bedroom at the mansion. While a criminal case could no longer be filed against Cosby due to the statute of limitations being expired, California law permits victims of underage abuse to file civil lawsuits.

Per The Guardian, Cosby's spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt (pictured), said the actor's team plans to appeal the jury's decision but nonetheless considered the case "a win," given that the jury only awarded Huth $5000,000, not the $8m Gloria Allred, Huth's lawyer was after.

In a statement to the press, Wyatt said, "This is a huge victory and the Cosbys are so happy with the representation of Jennifer Bonjean(pictured). Allred was trying to get $8m. They did not get punitive damages. That is a huge win."

Huth's attorney Glory Allred thanked the jury for its verdict and said her client was very brave, saying, "courage and many sacrifices to win justice in this case. We are honored to represent her."

Allred continued, "I want to thank all of the women who spoke out over the years, and refused to be silent in the face of what they believed to be injustice and sexual abuse by powerful men … We are proud of Ms Huth and our victory against Bill Cosby."

Bill Cosby was acquitted after being jailed for abuse in June 2021. This decision was determined, unexpectedly and surprisingly, by the Supreme Court of the State of Pennsylvania in the United States.

The actor, an icon of American popular culture of the 80s, was imprisoned for abuse of Andrea Constand in 2004.

The victim, who was then the coach of the women's basketball team at Temple University, where Bill Cosby had studied and to which he was a major donor, testified against the actor at trial and his testimony was key to jailing him.

Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Bill Cosby had been locked up in a state prison next to Philadelphia since 2018

However, last summer the Pennsylvania Supreme Court annulled the sentence because more than 10 years before the trial, Bill Cosby had reached an agreement with a prosecutor not to go to trial for the abuses for which he was finally convicted.

Moreover, the Supreme Court argued that the actor did not have a fair trial because, in addition to the victim, five other women testified against Bill Cosby, accusing him of abuse.

In fact, there have been more than 60 women who have accused the actor of the same thing, in a time span that goes from 1960 to 2000.

The Supreme Court has also warned that "any future prosecution for these particular charges should be prohibited. We do not dispute that this solution is serious and infrequent, but it is justified here," argued the three judges who agreed to his release.

Of course, most of these cases have not been brought to trial because they have expired, something that had not happened in the case of Andrea Constand.

Thus, Bill Cosby has gone from being the Father of America, to being the first famous person sentenced after the creation of the 'Me Too' Movement.

In spite of everything, to this day, Bill Cosby is a free man.