Cosby’s team called as a witness Bruce Castor, the former Montgomery County district attorney who reached the agreement that the actor would not be prosecuted over the alleged 2004 assault if he testified in a civil suit.
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Bill Cosby will stand trial for sexual assault, with USA Today reporting the judge in the case has ruled to proceed with prosecuting the 78-year-old TV icon on charges of felony indecent assault for allegedly drugging and raping Andrea Constand 12 years ago.
Mr Schmitt said Cosby later sat for a deposition in Constand’s civil suit over four days and never once invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Kevin Steele, who defeated Castor in the November election to succeed Ferman, argued that Cosby needed an immunity agreement – in writing – to avoid prosecution.
“In this case, the prosecution should be stopped in its tracks”, Mr Cosby’s lawyer Chris Tayback said, according to the Associated Press. This is the only case in which he has been charged.
The decision on Wednesday means the case will move to a March 8 preliminary hearing to see if prosecutors have enough evidence to prove Cosby assaulted the accuser at his Philadelphia-area home more than a decade ago. The incident before the court this time, however, is only 11 years old, and O’Neill ruled that a prosecutor’s promise not to charge the comedian was not legally valid.
Steele made the argument on Day 2 of a bid by Cosby’s lawyers to get the sexual assault charges thrown out.
Castor told the court on Tuesday that Constand’s credibility had been in question and her account inconsistent, arguing that the civil agreement offered the best possible justice. In the Pennsylvania case, the statute of limitations is set to expire early next year.
A key battle will be waged over deposition testimony by actor Bill Cosby as a sexual assault case against him moves forward. He said that as district attorney, he considered the decision final and binding “for all time” on his successors.
Goins first went public with her accusations in December 2014, saying the veteran comedian gave her a drugged drink at a party at the Playboy Mansion, then removed her clothes and pleasured himself while she was blacked out.
If convicted, Cosby is facing five to 10 years in prison.
On Tuesday, Castor testified that as an elected representative of the state, he had the power to give Cosby a lifetime pass from prosecution.
The judge said Wednesday he’s struggled to find similar instances where a suspect who wasn’t charged was granted such immunity.
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“This motion by Mr. Cosby to have his criminal case dismissed was just the latest in a long string of unsuccessful legal maneuvers by him to try to avoid having a jury decide his guilt or innocence”, Allred continued.
