Before she filed her civil suit, Constand tried to pursue Cosby on criminal charges in 2005, but then-DA Castor declined to prosecute for lack of evidence. This is the only case he has been criminally charged in so far, and he could face up to 10 years in prison.
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While Castor suggested during his testimony that Constand’s civil lawyers also were made aware of his non-prosecution promise and agreed with it, those lawyers, Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz, testified Wednesday they were never consulted and learned about the decision to not prosecute Cosby either from the media or a press release issued by Castor.
On Tuesday, Cosby’s lawyers called former prosecutor Bruce Castor as their primary witness.
The 78-year-old Cosby was arrested in December and charged with drugging and violating a former Temple University athletic department employee in 2004. “Now Mr. Cosby will have to face the serious charges of aggravated indecent sexual assault in a criminal court”.
Attorneys for Cosby had argued that the entertainer could not be prosecuted due to an agreement reached with a former Montgomery County district attorney.
He said he wanted the agreement to force Cosby to testify in Constand’s civil case without invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The case was settled the case on undisclosed terms in 2006.
Judge O’Neill concluded the promise was never made in writing and was a misuse of authority anyway. I was there, ‘ Cosby said in the deposition, cited by The New York Times.
Cosby has been accused of rape or sexual assault by dozens of women, many of whom claim he drugged them beforehand.
As the case goes forward, Cosby’s lawyers are expected to fight to keep the deposition from being introduced at trial.
Troiani and Kivitz said they had never heard of such an agreement from either Castor or Cosby’s lawyers at the time, but heard it for the first time previous year.
Cosby admitted in the deposition that he had a series of affairs with young models and actresses; had obtained quaaludes to give women before sex; and gave accuser Andrea Constand three pills before a January 2004 encounter at his home.
“He stands for too much success”, he said of Cosby. Steele has said that there is no record of any such agreement.
However, current District Attorney Kevin Steele questioned the existence of such an agreement since the attorney whom Castor dealt with is now dead and there are no court documents supporting Cosby’s alleged agreement. He testified that in deciding not to charge Cosby, he meant to forever close the door on prosecuting the comedian.
Castor said there were inconsistencies in Constand’s statements from 2005 and scrutinized the timing of her complaint, the Inquirer reported.
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Mr Steele ran ads criticising his opponent for not prosecuting Cosby when he had the chance.
