Cosby’s legal team yesterday will not include Monique Pressley, a Washington-based attorney who had become the public face of his defense through frequent appearances in the media on his behalf.
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His lawyers said in court their client was “not giving up the fight for his rights” and accused a lawyer representing other alleged sexual assault victims of waging a campaign built “on racial bias and prejudice”.
Yet, over the last fourteen months, Mr. Cosby, and those who have supported him, have been ignored, while lawyers like Gloria Allred hold press conferences to accuse him of crimes for unwitnessed events that allegedly occurred nearly a half century earlier. “She said the case is not about racial bias, but whether Cosby has committed acts of gender sexual violence”.
Fortunately for Cosby, Allred is white.
Bill Cosby departs after a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016.
Cosby dropped his media handler, Washington lawyer Monique Pressley, ahead of the hearing, where a judge could set a trial date. The women, who are not named in the document, date back decades.
Prosecutors argued that Cosby suspected his conversation was being recorded at the time, and he knew that Constand’s mother was in Canada, which only requires one-party consent.
Being Black has nothing to do with an individual choosing to allegedly drug women and sexually assault them, though.
In 2006 Mr Cosby settled with Ms Constand after providing an undisclosed cash sum to her.
A judge hasn’t said if he’ll allow the women to take the stand.
Prosecutors say they hope to have 13 Cosby accusers testify at the trial.
Cosby’s lawyers say they’ll oppose any testimony from other accusers.
Cosby, 79, is charged with drugging and molesting a woman he mentored at Temple University in 2004.
During the alleged January 17, 2005, phone conversation, Cosby, who initiated the call from California, “apparently suspected that Mrs. Constand was recording the call” and questioned her about “a persistent beeping” he heard on the phone, according to Steele.
Steele said Cosby had no expectation that the call was private because he already was suspicious when he heard beeping on the phone line and continued with the conversation.
In other pretrial maneuvering, the defense said it will file a motion seeking to move the trial outside the county on the grounds that District Attorney Kevin Steele turned the Cosby allegations into a campaign issue during his election past year. But the details of their claims, outlined in the prosecutors’ motion, match those of several women who have come forward publicly.
Cosby’s defenders instead suggest he is a wealthy target for the many women he met during five decades as an A-list celebrity.
Bill Cosby’s lawyers called the fallen funnyman a victim of racial discrimination Tuesday as they went for the jugular in their battle with famed civil rights attorney Gloria Allred.
Cosby’s mugshot from his December 2015 arrest. He clutched an aide’s arm but didn’t have the wooden cane he’s used at past hearings. Gianna Constand denied it. She said no and claimed the sound was a parrot.
The defense is expected to vehemently oppose such testimony. Cosby said he dodged her questions because he feared he was being recorded.
According to prosecutors, Bill Cosby is lying. Pennsylvania’s wiretap laws do not apply to the recordings at issue because Cosby had no reasonable expectation of non-interception, Steele maintained.
Allred also represents Judy Huth, who filed a civil lawsuit accusing Cosby of underage sexual abuse.
They’re calling for an end to the statute of limitations in response for rape and sexual assault. But a judge rejected that argument and a trial was green-lighted in July.
Cosby has streamlined his legal team as the case heads to trial.
Cosby was in court Tuesday for a pretrial hearing. Soon after, she reported Bill Cosby’s alleged assault to the local DA.
Despite the multitude of accusers, the Montgomery County case is now the only one that includes criminal charges.
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