Judge refuses to throw out sexual-assault case against Cosby
|
| 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. O'Neill issued the
ruling after a hard-fought two-day hearing, saying witness credibility
was a factor. He did not elaborate. |
NORRISTOWN,
Pa. (AP) -- A judge refused to throw out the sexual-assault case
against Bill Cosby on Wednesday, sweeping aside a former district
attorney's claim that he granted the comedian immunity from prosecution a
decade ago.
Common Pleas Judge Steven O'Neill
issued the ruling after a hard-fought two-day hearing, saying witness
credibility was a factor. He did not elaborate.
In
another setback for the defense, the judge also denied a request to
disqualify newly elected District Attorney Kevin Steele from the case.
Cosby's lawyers had accused Steele of making a "political football" out
of Cosby during the campaign.
Cosby, 78, was
arrested in December and charged with drugging and violating former
Temple University athletic department employee Andrea Constand at his
suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. The TV star could get up to 10 years
in prison if convicted.
Cosby held his head
in his hands after the ruling, then left the courtroom, using a cane to
descend the ornate marble staircase. He waved and smiled at supporters
but had no comment. His lawyers put their arms on him to comfort him.
The next step is a preliminary hearing March 8 to determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to put him on trial.
The charges represented an about-face by the district attorney's office.
In
2005, then-District Attorney Bruce Castor decided the case was too
flawed to prosecute. But Castor's successors reopened the investigation
last year after Cosby's lurid, decade-old testimony from Constand's
civil suit was unsealed at the request of The Associated Press and after
dozens of other women came forward with similar accusations that
destroyed Cosby's nice-guy image as America's Dad.
Cosby's
lawyers tried to get the case thrown out with help from Castor, who
testified at this week's hearing that he intended to forever close the
door on prosecuting the comedian. He said he considered his decision
binding on his successors.
Similarly, Cosby's
lawyers said they never would have let the TV star testify in the civil
case if they didn't believe criminal charges were off the table.
"In
this case, the prosecution should be stopped in its tracks," Cosby
lawyer Chris Tayback argued. "Really what we're talking about here is
honoring a commitment."
Steele challenged
Castor's credibility and questioned whether the former DA ever made such
an agreement, since it was never put in writing on a legal document and
the Cosby attorney with whom Castor dealt is now dead. Steele argued
that in any case, Castor had no legal authority to make such a deal.
"A secret agreement that allows a wealthy defendant to buy his way out of a criminal case isn't right," Steele told the judge.
At one point late in the afternoon, the judge signaled which way he intended to rule.
"There's
no other witness to the promise," O'Neill said. "The rabbit is in the
hat and you want me at this point to assume, 'Hey, the promise was made,
judge. Accept that.'"
On the stand, Castor
defended his decision not to bring charges, citing among other things
Constand's yearlong delay in going to police, her continued contact with
Cosby, and suggestions that she and her mother might have tried to
extort the comic.
The former DA said he made
the no-prosecution commitment in hopes of prodding Cosby to testify in
Constand's lawsuit without invoking his Fifth Amendment right against
self-incrimination. In the end, Cosby testified, denying he assaulted
Constand but admitting among other things that he obtained quaaludes to
give to women he wanted to seduce. Constand eventually settled for an
undisclosed amount.
While more than 50 women
have accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them since the
1960s, the statute of limitations for prosecuting the comic has run out
in nearly every instance. This is the only case in which he has been
charged.
As the case goes forward, Cosby's lawyers are expected to fight mightily to keep the deposition from being introduced at trial.
Castor
tried to make a comeback as DA last fall but lost to Steele in a hotly
contested race, during which Steele ran ads criticizing Castor for not
prosecuting Cosby when he had the chance. The tension between the two
men was on display Wednesday when Steele accused Castor and the Cosby
camp of engaging in "revisionist history."
Most
of the back-and-forth in court hinged on the wording and interpretation
of a 2005 press release in which Castor announced he would not
prosecute Cosby. Castor found himself sparring with prosecutors over
many seemingly inconsistent statements he made over the years on whether
Cosby could still be charged.
The judge said
he struggled to find similar cases where a suspect who was never charged
received a promise that he would never be prosecuted. Normally,
immunity is granted after a suspect is charged because he or she can
provide testimony or information to prosecutors.
