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Lawyer says Bill Cosby must be held responsible for sex abuse of teen

Bill Cosby-Civil Trial-Explainer
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An attorney for a woman suing Bill Cosby told jurors they must hold him responsible for sexually abusing her at the Playboy Mansion when she was 16 years old in 1975.

Nathan Goldberg, attorney for plaintiff Judy Huth, told jurors during his closing argument in a civil trial on Wednesday that Cosby had clearly planned to take Huth to the mansion that day with the intention of molesting her. Cosby, who is not attending the trial, has repeatedly denied any sexual activity with Huth.

His attorneys make their closing argument later Wednesday.

“He planned it,” Goldberg said. “He had no other business with two teenagers. Was he looking for new friends? He took them there for sex.”

Huth and her friend from the time, Donna Samuelson, who was 17 when the two met up, went with Cosby on a film set at a Southern California park and then to a tennis club a few days later, and as a surprise were taken by the then-37-year-old actor and comedian to the Playboy mansion, famous for its luxury and excess.

Cosby’s attorneys have brought up the long day the two spent luxuriating at the mansion as evidence that no traumatic experience took place. His lawyers questioned why Samuelson would keep the pictures from the trip of Huth and her abuser in an album full of happy life events.

“Imagine if she had thrown them away,” Goldberg said during his closing. “Thank God we had those photos. Because it establishes conclusively that Judy Huth was there.”