Comment on Cosby defense team lobs attacks in court of public opinion

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Jurors weren’t allowed to hear testimony that Bill Cosby’s chief accuser was once hooked on hallucinogenic mushrooms or had her sights set on becoming a millionaire, but that hasn’t stopped the defense from airing the explosive claims about Andrea Constand in the court of public opinion. With Cosby’s sexual assault retrial heading for deliberations this week, the 80-year-old comedian’s lawyers and publicists are increasingly playing to an audience of millions, not just the 12 people deciding his fate. They’re hitting at Constand’s credibility in the media with attacks that Judge Steven O’Neill is deeming too prejudicial or irrelevant for court, and they’re holding daily press briefings portraying Cosby as the victim of an overzealous prosecutor and an unjust legal system. Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt has decried Constand’s allegations of drugging and molestation as “fantastical stories” and deemed District Attorney Kevin Steele an “extortionist” for spending taxpayer money on the case. Lawyer Dennis McAndrews, who’s been in court following the retrial, said prominent defendants like Cosby almost always play to the court of public opinion when there’s no gag order, but that his team’s approach hasn’t been “particularly effective or convincing.” “It is so strident, and it is so hyperbolic, I think most people will turn it off,” said McAndrews, who prosecuted chemical heir John E.