Bill Cosby's daughter came to his defense in an essay published ahead of his June 5 sexual assault trial. Evin Cosby, 40-years-old and the youngest of five children, wrote her father "is not abusive, violent or a rapist" despite the charge against him.
Evin's essay appeared on Black Press USA on Wednesday, April 26. She blamed the media for putting a target on her father and painting him in a bad light. "Instead of going through the criminal justice system, these stories never got investigated and just got repeated," she wrote.
Evin detailed her childhood growing up with a famous father. She recalled he used his celebrity status for women's causes, which belied the accusations he abused women.
"My dad broke barriers and raised the conscious of America on important topics, especially for the advancement of women," she wrote. "He took on then-taboo subjects like menstrual cycles and rape, and even did a show on AIDS before anyone else would bring it up."
The Pittsburgh court charged Cosby, 79, for the 2004 drugging and sexual assault of Andrea Constand. Then a student at Temple University, at Cosby's hometown of Philadelphia, Constand said the TV star wooed her but she turned him down because she saw him as a father figure. One visit to his home, however, lead to the assault. Vanity Fair detailed the accuser's story in 2016.
Cosby entered a not guilty plea during the arraignment. NBC News reported this is the only criminal case to go to court amid "dozens of allegations." Allegedly, 50 women filed complaints of sexual abuse against Cosby.
The jury selection for the Cosby vs. Constand trial will begin on May 22, as per People. The jury will be sequestered as the judge estimates testimonies will take two weeks during the trial. Evin, however, hopes for the case's dismissal favoring his father.
