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NORRISTOWN — The jury deciding Bill Cosby’s fate will begin its fifth hour of deliberations this morning, after a long day of closing arguments from both sides on Monday that followed a stunning defense strategy that last all of six minutes.
You’ve probably heard about how prosecutors described Cosby as a calculating sexual predator. Or about how his defense team says he’s just a philanderer who talks too much. But there are plenty of small moments that have made this trial at times chaotic — and at other times just plain bizarre — that you might have missed if you weren’t in the courtroom.
So here are five kinda awkward moments you probably missed from the end of Cosby’s criminal trial:
1. Cosby’s still doing dad joke things
When Cosby was on his way out of the courtroom earlier Monday, he was being escorted by his spokesman Andrea Wyatt when a security guard loudly said loudly to audience members standing to sit down. (Those watching the trial are expected to remain seated until after Cosby leaves the courtroom.)
Cosby stopped, bent his knees, looked around, paused, grabbed his cane and pointed it in a way that was sort of like he was pointing a gun. Wyatt and Cosby briefly chuckled.
The odd reaction was similar to how he reacted under the same circumstances last week. On Wednesday, an official outside the courtroom yelled “no cell phones!” Cosby turned around quickly, pulled up his cane in the air like it was a gun and grunted like he was ready to fight someone — laughing the whole time.
Cosby was also apparently singing to himself as he left court Monday night. CNN’s Jean Casarez described the tune as “ba boop ba dee boop boop.”
2. In his closing, Cosby’s defense attorney maybe quoted ‘Rocky’
Cosby’s Philadelphia defense attorney Brian McMonagle on Monday tried to paint Cosby as an imperfect philanderer who isn’t a sexual predator. It was pretty awkward — for the first time during his criminal trial, Cosby’s wife Camille appeared in court and sat in the front row.
“When you dance outside your marriage, you got to pay the band. And he danced,” McMonagle said, gesturing toward Camille. “And she deserved better.”
We hadn’t heard that, um, dancing metaphor before today, but a quick Google search shows it was apparently said by a (fictional) Philadelphia man: Rocky Balboa. Rocky apparently once told a laborer who owed money: “You wanna dance, you gotta pay the band, you understand? If you wanna borrow, you gotta pay the man.”
We’re not saying Bill Cosby’s attorney definitely quoted Rocky Balboa in his closing argument. But… he didn’t not quote Rocky Balboa in his closing argument.
3. He also called Cosby ‘brilliant’ and pandered to Penguins fans
McMonagle started off his closing argument with a bizarre Shake Shack anecdote, saying he’d been sitting at the restaurant the night before, watching a daughter stare up lovingly at her father. In some magical defense attorney way, he turned it into a metaphor for looking at Cosby the way children do, saying if jurors did so, they would see “a brilliant comedian who not only taught us how to smile, but taught us how to love each other, no matter what we look like, no matter how different we are.”
Then he veered into sportsball territory. This jury of seven men and five women was selected from Allegheny County, so at least some of them likely have feelings about the Penguins’ second-in-two-years Stanley Cup win this week.
While attempting to explain circumstantial evidence — or evidence that doesn’t have a direct or physical component — he told jurors to imagine how they’d react if they were at a Penguins game and Sidney Crosby broke away.
“And he goes right up to the goal and all of a sudden, the knucklehead next to you spills a beer on you, and next thing you know, there’s cheering,” McMonagle told them. “You didn’t see him score that goal, did you? That’s circumstantial evidence. There’s evidence to show you the conclusion, but it doesn’t get there.”
We’re still wondering how effective it was demonstrating to Penguins fans a scenario where Crosby might not have scored.
4. But at least he wasn’t awkward about his PowerPoint
Despite the maybe-Rocky-quote and the weird Shake Shack thing, credit where it’s due: McMonagle delivered an impassioned and flowing closing argument that, though it lasted about two hours, seemed to keep the jury engaged.
District Attorney Kevin Steele’s closing argument was a tad more awkward, largely because like McMonagle, he was working off a PowerPoint presentation as a visual aid. But unlike McMonagle, Steele either didn’t use a remote of any sort or didn’t coordinate as well with the person who’s job it was to operate the PowerPoint.
So throughout this two-plus hour closing argument, every time he wanted a slide changed on the massive projection board, he had to stop the flow of what he was saying to say “next slide, please.”
It was a little jarring, and sounded something like: “It is about as straightforward as you are ever going to see in a sex crimes case. Ever.
[small pause]
“Next slide, please.”
5. Camille Cosby walked in last
As if the fact that Camille Cosby was at her husband’s side for the first time since his criminal trial began wasn’t dramatic enough, the way she entered reinforced what they were going for.
Despite walking into the courthouse itself at her husband’s side, by the time the judge was seated, Camille still wasn’t in the courtroom, fueling whispers that maybe there was a small chance she’d testify.
But a moment later, Camille walked into the courtroom escorted by one other woman. She walked down the center aisle, and sat right in the front row behind her husband. And though she hardly flinched while McMonagle delivered his closing argument, there was no sign of Camille in the courtroom in the afternoon hours while prosecutor Kevin Steele gave his final pitch.
