Cosby Sexual Assault Case Is Cleared To Proceed

The decision came near the end of a two-day hearing, which later saw the same judge decline to disqualify District Attorney Kevin Steele from the 78-year-old comedian’s prosecution.

Steele, a Lower Merion Democrat who was first assistant district attorney at the time, faced former Republican District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr., of Lower Salford, an outgoing county commissioner, during the November 2015 election.

District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, co-prosecutors Stewart Ryan and Kristen Feden, and defense lawyers Brian J. McMonagle, Monique Pressley and Christopher Tayback did not comment about the ruling as they left court.

Comedian Bill Cosby at the Montgomery County courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday.

The argument revolved around an oral agreement between Castor and Cosby’s attorney in which Cosby agreed to give a deposition in a civil suit brought by the alleged victim in 2005. The defence contended Steele’s decision to charge Cosby was political, and that he had used an implied promise of prosecution to get elected a year ago.

The judge denied the defense request Wednesday to remove Steele.

However, lawyers who succeeded Mr Castor decided previous year to reopen the case after other women came forward with similar accusations.

Prosecutors argued that the comedian does not have a valid immunity deal.

Now the case moves to a preliminary hearing to determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to prove Cosby assaulted Constand.

In a deposition made during a civil lawsuit, Cosby admitted to giving Constand three quaaludes but insisted the sexual contact was consensual.

Judge Steven O’Neill refused to throw out the case, rejecting a former district attorney’s claim that he granted the comedian immunity from prosecution a decade ago.

But Castor’s promise, whether or not he made one, did not stand and a county judge dismissed a defense motion to dismiss the charges against Cosby. Without that deal in place, argued Cosby’s lawyers, he never would have given the deposition.

Cosby is charged with drugging and assaulting a former Temple University employee in 2004. Constand’s complaints are one of dozens more filed by women who claim to have been drugged then violated by Cosby over several decades. Prosecutors say he urged her to take pills and drink wine, leaving her unable to resist as he committed aggravated indecent assault.

Constand says she soon found herself unable to move or speak while Cosby fondled her.

Cosby’s lawyers said they never would have let him testify if they didn’t believe criminal charges were off the table. “… What I think is that Andrea Constand was inappropriately touched by Mr. Cosby”.

Constand’s allegations are the only ones to have resulted in criminal charges against Cosby, although he also faces a series of civil lawsuits related to alleged rapes.

“A secret agreement that permits a wealthy defendant to buy his way out of a criminal case isn’t right”. Schmitt testified that would not have allowed Cosby to give the deposition if he had not been sure it could not be used against his client.

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. Her attorney, Spencer Kuvin, filed paperwork in federal court Tuesday dismissing the case “without prejudice”, meaning the case could be re-filed. However, the agreement was never put into writing and the actor’s lawyers had to rely on a press release about the agreement that was written and signed by Castor. Schmitt acknowledges Cosby never invoked his Fifth Amendment right over four days of questioning.

Bill Cosby’s criminal case will go forward. Chloe Goins, now 24, had alleged Cosby sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 2008. The proceedings resume Wednesday.

Cosby has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Castor said that Cosby’s lawyer – Walter Phillips – told him that Constand and her mother were trying to get money from Cosby in exchange for not going to police.