Castor said Constand’s delay thwarted his ability to test her hair or fingernails for evidence she was drugged. Ultimately, Constand filed a civil lawsuit that she and Cosby settled privately – but not before Cosby had to answer questions about, among other things, providing powerful drugs to women he wanted to have sex with. That agreement has shielded him from prosecution until now. But the statute of limitations for prosecuting him has run out in almost every instance.
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A Pennsylvania judge says he’ll decide Wednesday whether to dismiss a sexual assault case against Bill Cosby over an unwritten promise of immunity a former prosecutor says he gave the comedian’s now-deceased lawyer a decade ago. On an evening in 2004, Cosby allegedly gave Constand several pills and a glass of wine, the effect of which rendered her unable to resist his alleged assault.
“I hereby find no basis to grant the relief requested” by the defense attorneys, said Judge Steven O’Neill in a suburban Philadelphia courtroom. The preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 8.
While Cosby reportedly received some support from fans waiting outside of the courthouse at the time of the deposition, he received little sympathy from social media users.
The current DA charged Cosby in December as a string of women went public with sexual misconduct or assault accusations against the man best known as TV dad Cliff Huxtable.
That case involves a former Temple University employee.
Under questioning by Mr Steele, Mr Schmitt acknowledged that he relied on both the press release and assurances that Mr Castor gave a decade ago to Cosby lawyer Walter Phillips, who is now dead.
The unsealing of the testimony from Constand’s lawsuit prompted Castor’s successors to reopen the case and ultimately charge Cosby.
According to an affidavit, Constand alleged Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in his Pennsylvania home in early 2004 after inviting her there to discuss her professional future.
“Right off the bat, I thought ‘that bastard, ‘” she said, referring to Cosby. Castor told the court he steered the matter to civil court so Constand could become “a millionaire”.
But even as he rejected their arguments, O’Neill offered a glimpse of another strategy Cosby’s lawyers may consider in an attempt to blunt the charges.
The Associated Press reports that Bill Cosby, the embattled family comedian who has been accused of a myriad of rapes and sexual assaults, was charged with sexual assault in Philadelphia on Wednesday morning.
Prosecutors said the release of court documents in July and the subsequent release of the deposition had in part led to the reopening of the case.
Cosby denies any criminal wrongdoing.
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“The charge by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office came as no surprise, filed 12 years after the alleged incident and coming on the heels of a hotly contested election for this county’s DA during which this case was made the focal point”, she said.
