Bill Cosby to Stand Trial for Sexual Assault Charges in Pennsylvania

Montgomery County Judge Steve O’Neill Wednesday night denied Bill Cosby’s request to dismiss a criminal case against him saying a former prosecutor’s testimony about a promise he made not to prosecute Cosby was not credible.

Cosby’s lawyers attempted to have the case dismissed on the basis of an alleged promise that former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor made to Cosby in 2005.

Mr Castor testified he had agreed not to prosecute Cosby in 2005 to clear the way for him to testify in a civil suit brought by alleged victim Andrea Constand, now 44, who has said Cosby plied her with alcohol and drugs before raping her.

“Cosby would’ve had to have been nuts to say those things if there was any chance he could’ve been prosecuted”, Castor said, adding that he hoped Cosby’s willingness to testify in the civil suit – which he nearly certainly wouldn’t have done had a verbal agreement to not bring criminal charges forth been made – would help Constand win a large payout.

Prosecutors argued the deal was neither valid nor binding and called into question Castor’s credibility, while Cosby’s lawyers insisted prosecutors often make no-prosecution deals with defendants.

A judge in Pennsylvania announced on Wednesday that a sexual assault case against disgraced comedian Bill Cosby will move forward in the court.

It is not known if Cosby’s team will appeal the decision. The strategy worked: Cosby testified, and Constand settled for an undisclosed amount. During the ruling, he held his head in his hands but later smiled at his lawyers.

BENSHOFF: So in 2004, a young woman named Andrea Constand who, at the time, worked for Temple University, which is how she met Bill Cosby and who – where he became her mentor – she says that she went over to dinner at his house, and he gave her some pills. He faces 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine if convicted.

Montgomery County District Attorney, Kevin Steele, right, and Asst.

Steele has only been D.A. for a few months; he ran against Castor, invoking Castor’s failure to prosecute Cosby as part of his platform.

But times changed for Cosby and the sexual assault allegations spread like the Zika virus. However, the reported agreement was never put in writing and there is no record of any decision by Castor.

A lawyer for the woman accusing Bill Cosby of a 2004 sex assault is challenging a former district attorney’s account of how that case was handled. The charges were filed in 2015, barley shy of the statute of limitations for prosecution.

The judge said he struggled to find similar cases where a suspect who was never charged received a promise that he’d never be prosecuted.

The current prosecutor has charged Cosby with indecent assault based on a newly released deposition from the accuser’s lawsuit.