whispered courtroom observers. the way to show the jury that paul could, in fact, interact well with a woman. but those observers were mistaken, said geragos. well, i generally i don t think direct examination is my strong suit and i was concentrating on cross-examination of the witnesses. so paul zumot looked the jurors in the eyes and told them, i did not kill jennifer schipsi, did not burn the house. then he told them, emotions building to a fever pitch, how, despite their roller coaster relationship, he truly loved jennifer. his love letter presented a letter she had written him and he broke down then, a flood of tears. i was so relieved. i thought, you know, if there was any way this jury thought this man was responsible for this, now they know for sure that he s not. because it s so obvious to me that he s telling the truth. but listening to all of this with his experienced ear was prosecutor gillingham. you must have been rather pleased when you heard he was going to t
paul zumot himself appears to have demanded it. the chance to defend himself to the jury by testifying. some courtroom observers believe testifying was in fact, risky. especially for paul, said his friend. knowing paul the way i know paul and the way that he could be interpreted incorrectly, i was very nervous about paul taking the stand. risky or not, paul was determined to tell the jury his side of the story. coming up. i thought, you know, if there was any way this jury thought this man was responsible for this, now they know for sure that he s not. but what did the jury think? when burning suspicion continues.
i mean, it was just mayhem. you saw a bunch of reporters. you re looking at the courthouse. there are a number of steps up to the courthouse. if you look kind of to the left, there s a path way that cosby walked. then there s kind of a drop off from that walkway to the sidewalk. so the reporters just kind of went running from the stepping, down the path way to get to that car. jumped over the wall. it was nuts. i don t know how else to describe it, except for that. shepard: you know, there were so many people not here, you there at your location about whom i have been reading. some of the people who claim to be victims of bill cosby. other courtroom observers who said when they learned just, what, an hour and a half ago that a verdict had been reached, they thought in the grand scheme of things that many prepared themselves for an acquittal here. yeah, i think so.
judge steven t. o neill in montgomery county there in pennsylvania. quoting judge o neill. this has been an extraordinarily difficult case, he told these men and women of montgomery county. going on with the quote, you have sacrificed much, but you have sacrificed in service to this country, this county and this town. and that is important. and from some color from inside the courtroom that comes to us from other courtroom observers, a range of reaction to the verdict says laura benshaw, who s reporting inside the courtroom from the women who say cosby drugged and assaulted them. lily bernard is one of them pwp appeared on the cosby show, began crying. andrea constand, the victim of bill cosby in this case, who claimed led to the first charges, appeared is your recent in the courtroom to those who wor watching. a little bit more were coming from national public radio.
the jury by testifying. some courtroom observers believe the defense had already created a reasonable doubt that testifying was in fact, risky. especially for paul, said his friend. knowing paul the way i know paul and the way he could be interpreted incorrectly, i was very nervous about paul taking the stand. risky or not, paul was determined to tell the jury his side of the story. i thought, you know, if there was any way this jury thought this man was responsible for this, now they know for sure that he s not. what did the jury think?