Bill Cosby Case Can Go Forward
Bill Cosby Case Can Go Forward
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PENNSYLVANIA - The sexual assault case in Pennsylvania against Bill Cosby will go forward, a judge in Montgomery County ruled.
As reported by CNN, Cosby's lawyers had argued for two days during a pretrial hearing that a criminal case had been barred by a promise made in 2005 by then-District Attorney Bruce Castor never to prosecute the renowned entertainer. The judge on Wednesday ruled "there was no basis to grant the relief requested" by Cosby.
A spokesman for Cosby's legal team, Andrew Wyatt, told CNN his attorneys would appeal the judge's determination. "The decision reached by the court was wrong," he said.
Judge Steven O'Neill also ruled that prosecutor, newly elected District Attorney Kevin Steele, could stay on the case. The case, in which former Temple University employee Andrea Constand accuses the TV star of assaulting her in his home in 2004, will go forward. Cosby, who has not entered a plea, was charged December 30 with aggravated indecent assault against Constand, who went to authorities in 2005.
Bruce Castor, the Montgomery County district attorney at the time, did not file sexual assault charges against Cosby, citing "insufficient credible and admissible evidence."
Cosby was charged in the case in December, 11 years after the state initially declined to prosecute. In addition to denying the allegations, Cosby argues he's being improperly prosecuted based on testimony he gave during a civil suit -- testimony his defense says was given only because the state closed the criminal case in 2005.
But the district attorney's office reopened the investigation based on "new evidence" that emerged from the unsealing of Cosby's deposition in Constand's civil suit. Before court ended Wednesday, the judge scheduled a preliminary hearing on March 8.
As reported by CNN, Cosby's lawyers had argued for two days during a pretrial hearing that a criminal case had been barred by a promise made in 2005 by then-District Attorney Bruce Castor never to prosecute the renowned entertainer. The judge on Wednesday ruled "there was no basis to grant the relief requested" by Cosby.
A spokesman for Cosby's legal team, Andrew Wyatt, told CNN his attorneys would appeal the judge's determination. "The decision reached by the court was wrong," he said.
Judge Steven O'Neill also ruled that prosecutor, newly elected District Attorney Kevin Steele, could stay on the case. The case, in which former Temple University employee Andrea Constand accuses the TV star of assaulting her in his home in 2004, will go forward. Cosby, who has not entered a plea, was charged December 30 with aggravated indecent assault against Constand, who went to authorities in 2005.
Bruce Castor, the Montgomery County district attorney at the time, did not file sexual assault charges against Cosby, citing "insufficient credible and admissible evidence."
Cosby was charged in the case in December, 11 years after the state initially declined to prosecute. In addition to denying the allegations, Cosby argues he's being improperly prosecuted based on testimony he gave during a civil suit -- testimony his defense says was given only because the state closed the criminal case in 2005.
But the district attorney's office reopened the investigation based on "new evidence" that emerged from the unsealing of Cosby's deposition in Constand's civil suit. Before court ended Wednesday, the judge scheduled a preliminary hearing on March 8.
(rnz)
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