Bill Cosby paid sexual assault accuser $3.4 million settlement

(WENN) — Bill Cosby paid his sexual assault accuser nearly $3.4 million in a 2006 settlement, a Pennsylvania court heard as his retrial opened on Monday.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele disclosed the value of the settlement Cosby, 80, had paid to Andrea Costand, 44, who alleges he drugged and attacked her at his Philadelphia home in 2004, in his prosecution opening statement.

In pre-trial hearings last week, Judge Steven O'Neill agreed to allow the jury trying the case to hear the previously undisclosed details of the settlement.

The disgraced comedian's legal team had lobbied to include the $3.4 million settlement as evidence - as they seek to prove Costand's allegations are fabricated. He has pleaded not guilty to three charges of aggravated indecent assault.

According to Vox.com, Steele said Constand pursued a civil suit in 2005 after Montgomery County prosecutors declined to bring criminal charges against Cosby. The settlement and a confidentiality agreement kept her silent until 2015, when Montgomery County prosecutors reviewed the case after dozens of women came forward accuse the star of drugging and sexually assaulted them.

The opening statements in the trial were initially delayed after Cosby's team filed a motion to dismiss one juror after he allegedly told another prospective juror (who was not picked to try the case) that he believed Cosby was guilty. Judge O'Neill reviewed the motion with the defense and prosecution and then allowed the juror to stay on the panel.

The hearing at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania got off to a hectic start after a topless woman, who had the phrase "Women's Lives Matter" painted on her skin, was arrested for charging towards the disgraced actor.

The protester was later identified as Nicolle Rochelle, an actress who appeared on "The Cosby Show" four times in the 1990s.

An initial court case over Constand's allegations ended in a mistrial in June.