Judge says Bill Cosby sex assault case can proceed

Constand is one of more than 50 women who have alleged the former TV star and comedian drugged and sexually assaulted them during the past half century.

She gave “inconsistencies” in different accounts of what happened, he said.

His lawyers also argued that because current D.A. Kevin Steele defeated Castor in an election previous year on the campaign promise he would prosecute the Cosby case that Castor chose not to, therefore Steele is bias.

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.

The case against Cosby was reopened in July of this year, after documents from Constand’s civil lawsuit were unsealed.

Attorney Jack Schmitt, Cosby’s longtime legal adviser, testified on Wednesday that he would not have had Cosby give a deposition in Constand’s 2005 civil suit if he thought Castor’s oral non-prosecution agreement wouldn’t be honored in the future, ABC News reports. He said he reached into her trousers in what he insisted was consensual contact.

Following Judge O’Neill’s ruling, a representative for Cosby released a statement to ET slamming the decision.

Judge Steven T. O’Neill also refused a defense request to disqualify the prosecutor from the case.

Whether or not Cosby will really go to trial will be determined on or after March 8, when the preliminary hearing decides whether or not Cosby will actually be placed on trial, as reported by USA Today.

Bill Cosby Fan Expresses Support Norristown resident Maurice Brach explains why he supports Bill Cosby, who is facing criminal prosecution.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles decided last month not to file criminal charges against Cosby over her claims, noting that some details could not be corroborated.

Although Castor believed the accuser, Andrea Constand, he noted several weaknesses in the case, including that Constand did not bring forth her allegations for a year.

Cosby’s lawyers had accused Steele of making a “political football” out of Cosby during his political campaign.

“In this case, the prosecution should be stopped in its tracks”, said lawyer Chris Tayback.

Cosby denies any criminal wrongdoing. She eventually settled for an undisclosed amount.

Philadelphia Bar chancellor Gaetan Alfano, a onetime prosecutor with the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office now in private practice, said prosecutors regularly grant immunity to witnesses, but typically in exchange for testimony in an ongoing criminal matter.

In related news, a Los Angeles judge ordered Cosby to attend another deposition in a lawsuit filed by a woman who says the comic forced her to perform a sex act on him at the Playboy Mansion around 1974, when she was 15. But this is the only case in which he has been charged.

The ruling was a setback for Cosby, who has starred in films, TV shows and stand-up comedy appearances for decades.