Cosby admitted a decade ago during a deposition for a civil suit filed by Constand that he gave her Benadryl and said that anything that happened at his Pennsylvania home was consensual at that time.
Advertisement
Cosby lawyers say he only answered the deposition questions because Bruce Castor, the district attorney in 2005, promised to never bring a criminal case based on Constand’s allegations. After the court hearing, Cosby’s newest attorney – Angela Agrusa – lambasted the media, accusing news organisations of not doing enough investigation to determine whether the accusations made by dozens of women can be corroborated. Steele argued that Cosby’s suspicions removed his expectations of privacy.”He believed he was being recorded, and still talked anyway, and made admissions that should come in”, Steele said.McMonagle disagreed.”What matters is she lied to him in that conversation and didn’t have his consent”, he said. The statement says Cosby has been “no stranger to racial discrimination and hatred” throughout his career. “I am not stopped”. Prosecutors, however, are allowed on rare occasions to use evidence or witnesses to prove a defendant committed a crime as part of a longstanding pattern of behaviour.
Cosby’s lawyers meanwhile asked the judge Tuesday to suppress a 2005 telephone conversation recorded by Constand’s mother in Toronto.
Lead defense lawyer Brian McMonagle of Philadelphia says he has other trials scheduled through the spring.
The allegation was contained in a pretrial motion in which prosecutors asked the judge for the approval to present testimony at trial from 13 of the approximate 50 women who were interviewed by investigators.
Ms Constand alleged that Cosby assaulted her as she drifted in and out of consciousness. O’Neill already ruled in February that Steele could remain in the prosecution. But the judge noted Cosby could have learned sometime after the call that it was taped.
If he does, their testimony could widen the scope of the 79-year-old Cosby’s trial, slated for June, into a close examination of his treatment of women over the last six decades – from his time as a fledgling comedian to his worldwide fame as a TV sitcom star dubbed “America’s Dad”.
Despite the fact that Cosby’s lawyers present the nation as a whole and Montgomery County specifically as hostile territory, Cosby was greeted by throngs of supporters shouting “we love you” outside the courthouse door on Tuesday.
Prosecutor, Kevin Steele, told reporters his team could be ready for a trail immediately.
Those were some of the issues that came up in Tuesday’s hearing that was primarily held to set a trial date and to hear argument on two defense motions that were filed earlier this summer.
A Pennsylvania judge has set a date for Bill Cosby’s felony sexual assault trial.
Advertisement
The entertainer is charged with sexually assaulting a woman he mentored at Temple University in 2004.
