Actor and comedian Bill Cosby leaves after a court appearance Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, in Norristown, Pa. Common Pleas Judge Steven O’Neill refused to throw out the sexual assault case against Cosby on Wednesday, sweeping aside a former district attorney’s claim that he granted the comedian immunity from prosecution a decade ago.
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Prosecutors argued that Cosby does not have a valid immunity deal and the ex-district attorney who testified he approved an immunity deal in an oral agreement 11 years ago has no credibility.
The defense case primarily rested on the word of Castor, district attorney from 2000 to 2008, who during seven hours of testimony on Tuesday, claimed he made a binding promise to Cosby and his then lawyer, Walter Phillips Jr., that Cosby would never be prosecuted in connection with Constand’s allegations.
His lawyer Jack Schmitt told a judge his client never would’ve testified in Constand’s 2005 civil suit, stemming from allegations that he’d raped her, if he’d known there would be criminal charges in the future.
The agreement stated that Castor would not prosecute the entertainer regarding sexual assault claims leveled against him by a former Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2005.
The comedian, once the highest paid USA television star, could go to prison for 10 years if convicted.
O’Neill ruled on Wednesday that he is denying the defense’s motion to prohibit Cosby’s prosecution.
Following Judge O’Neill’s ruling, a representative for Cosby released a statement to ET slamming the decision.
Prosecutors now handling the case, however, argued that the former D.A. could not legally make the arrangement, noting that no one on Cosby’s side of the courtroom had written proof of the deal not to prosecute. The case was settled the case on undisclosed terms in 2006. Cosby’s lawyer said that he never would have let Cosby be deposed if there was potential that he would be criminally prosecuted.
Steele pointed to the press release, noting a section that says the district attorney reserves the right to “reconsider the decision” not to prosecute Cosby “should the need arise”.
“The matter was resolved and I am hopeful that I had made Ms. Constand a millionaire”, the former prosecutor added.
Aggravated indecent assault charges against Bill Cosby will not be dismissed, despite his legal team’s efforts to get the case tossed out.
Castor also testified that Cosby would “had to have been nuts” to say what he did in a 2005 deposition for a lawsuit if he thought he could be charged. But newly elected Montgomery County DA Kevin Steele followed through on a campaign promise to reexamine Constand’s accusation.
Constand’s lawyer, Dolores Troiani, testified that she was not aware of any such agreement.
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Most of the cases can not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has since expired.
