He did not elaborate. O’Neill denied the motion to disqualify Steele, requested by Cosby’s attorneys.
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According to the prosecutors, the former D.A. had no legal authority to make that secret agreement, which Cosby and his attorneys never got in writing.
They claim it violates a 2005 agreement that Cosby would never be prosecuted over allegations of assault made by Andrea Constand, a former employee of Temple University in Philadelphia. He faces 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine if convicted.
A Pennsylvania judge ruled Wednesday that a sexual assault case against Bill Cosby will move forward.
He further explained to Cosby’s attorneys Tuesday why he didn’t pursue charges.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers left court without speaking to reporters.
Cosby, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, sat still and silent through Wednesday’s court hearing and offered no visible reaction to O’Neill’s early evening decision.
“He stands for too much success”, he said of Cosby.
In an interesting twist, Castor said he made the deal in an attempt to secure a better settlement agreement for Constand, who had filed a civil suit against Cosby.
In the hearing, Cosby’s attorneys argued that the comedian agreed to a deal in which he would not be prosecuted, in exchange for agreeing to a deposition in a civil case; prosecutors stated that the deal was not legally binding as it had not been approved by a judge. “Really what we’re talking about here is honouring a commitment”.
Steele also took time to address the retweet of the Rolling Stone article that Tayback said was “pretty close to an express promise”.
But after a two-day pre-trial hearing led by the country’s new DA, Common Pleas Judge Steven O’Neill ruled the case should go ahead. She said Cosby plied her with alcohol and drugs in his home just outside Philadelphia before raping her in 2004. In the deposition, Cosby admits he gave his accuser the drug Quaaludes, the Associated Press reports. That suit was settled for an undisclosed amount, per the AP.
Constand says that in 2004, she was drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby in his Pennsylvania home.
She backed the prosecution’s assertion that the press release was not an agreement, and she never heard about charges being precluded until the case came back into the limelight in 2005. They contend that then-District Attorney Bruce Castor’s 2005 decision not to prosecute bars his successors from filing charges. The tension between the two men was on display Wednesday when Steele accused Castor and the Cosby camp of engaging in “revisionist history”.
Cosby’s ongoing issues with sexual assault accusations have been plaguing him for the past year and it appears that 2016 won’t be any less relentless.
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The judge said he struggled to find similar cases where a suspect who was never charged received a promise that he’d never be prosecuted.
