Cosby case moves forward; deposition a key trial question

After a 45-minute deliberation, Judge O’Neill denied the defense motion to dismiss the case.

The prosecutor in the sexual assault case against Bill Cosby argued Wednesday that a previous district attorney had no legal authority to make a deal a decade ago that supposedly shields the comedian from ever facing charges.

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

Former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor has said Constand’s lawyers agreed to an unwritten promise that Cosby would never face criminal charges in the case so Cosby could testify in the lawsuit.

Steele ran ads criticizing Castor for not prosecuting Cosby when he had the chance.

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

Raven Symoné, co-host of The View, and a one-time actor on the Cosby Show, said that she would watch the Cosby trial if his sexual assault trial were televised.

Constand has said she met Cosby in 2002 and thought of him as a mentor and a friend, CNN reported.

The decision, Castor said, was made to create an atmosphere that would induce Cosby to testify in Constand’s civil litigation against him and allow Constand to prevail civilly and “make a lot of money”.

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.

Attorneys for Cosby, 78, had argued that the entertainer could not be prosecuted due to an agreement reached with a former Montgomery County district attorney. With greater than 50 women coming forward to accuse Cosby of some sort of sexual misconduct, Andrea’s case is the first one to feature the actor and comedian possibly going to trial to answer the accusations. Cosby faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Cosby was charged in the case in December, 11 years after the state initially declined to prosecute.

But Judge Steven O’Neill rejected the defense’s arguments. They added that they would not have let Cosby testify in that civil case a decade ago had they known he could have faced criminal charges in the future.

Castor, called to testify at a pretrial hearing by Cosby’s lawyers, said he feared Constand’s credibility as a witness could have been undermined because she waited a year to file her criminal complaint against Cosby and hired a lawyer to explore a civil lawsuit.

During direct examination, the prosecution attempted to demonstrate that no mention was made at any point during the deposition about any immunity Cosby might have from prosecution.

The promise was made to Cosby’s now-deceased lawyer.

Also Tuesday in a separate case, a woman dropped a civil suit against the legendary comedian in a California court. That suit was settled for an undisclosed amount, per the AP.