Cosby leaves court after judge rules against him

NORRISTOWN | A USA judge paved the way Wednesday for disgraced TV legend Bill Cosby to stand trial for the first time on a criminal sexual assault charge, throwing out an attempt by his lawyers to dismiss the case.

Cosby’s deposition shouldn’t be used, the defense said, because Cosby only agreed to testify in the lawsuit after then-District Attorney Bruce Castor said he wouldn’t prosecute the entertainer.

The case now moves to a preliminary hearing to see if prosecutors have enough evidence to prove Cosby assaulted the accuser in 2004.

Marta Iwanek/AP Cosby was charged with a felony December 30 for the 2004 incicident in which he’s accused of drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand (pictured).

Constand said Cosby drugged and raped her; Cosby said the encounter was consensual.

The former sitcom star and comedian faces charges stemming from an incident that allegedly occurred in 2004. He also believed that the deal he made to not charge Cosby criminally a decade ago is still binding and should close the door on prosecuting the comedian today.

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. Defense attorneys on Tuesday presented a 2005 press release from Castor’s office that they said amounted to an agreement not to prosecute Cosby.

Cosby’s legal team argued that violated a 2005 agreement that he would never be prosecuted over the allegation of assault made by Constand, a former employee of Temple University in Philadelphia.

But Kevin Steele, current district attorney, questioned whether Mr Castor ever made such an agreement, since it was never put in writing on a legal document and Cosby’s attorney with whom Mr Castor dealt is now dead.

Troiani’s testimony Wednesday served to undercut some of Castor’s reasons for his actions and inactions regarding Cosby and Constand 10 years ago.

Castor said if Phillips and other defense attorneys for Cosby “wanted more than that to protect themselves, it was up to them to provide it”.

Common Pleas Judge Steven O’Neill issued the ruling after a hard-fought two-day hearing, saying witness credibility was a factor.

“My client was deeply hurt by the manner in which she had been treated by district attorney Castor”, she said.

An entertainer who built a career on family-friendly comedy, he now faces accusations from more than 50 women that he sexually assaulted them, often after plying them with drugs and alcohol, in a series of attacks dating to the 1960s.

On Wednesday, a judge in Pennsylvania rejected arguments made by his lawyers that a previous ruling in 2005 made him immune from prosecution.

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.

“I believed Ms. Constand’s account”, Castor said during the hearing in a suburban Philadelphia court.

“If there was any such deal, it should not be enforced, and this pending criminal case should be permitted to proceed”, Allred said.

He further explained to Cosby’s attorneys Tuesday why he didn’t pursue charges. “I want them (the prosecutors who’ve charged Cosby) to win”.

A judge has refused to throw out a case against comedian Bill Cosby, paving the way for him to be tried for sexual assault.