Feb 3, 2016, 6:00 PM ET
The aggravated indecent assault charge against Bill Cosby will not be dismissed, despite his legal team’s efforts to get the case tossed out, and the prosecutor will be allowed to stay on the case.
On Wednesday, a judge shot down the comedian’s motions in the case.
“We will appeal,” Cosby’s lawyer, Monique Pressley told ABC News in the wake of the decision.
Cosby, 78, was charged last December by Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Kevin Steele. A few weeks later, Cosby’s attorneys filed to have the charge dismissed, claiming that Steele brought it “illegally, improperly and unethically.” They also asked that the D.A. be removed from the case.
Yesterday, Bruce Castor, a former Montgomery County District Attorney, told the judge why he never charged the comedian when the alleged incident happened more than a decade ago.
There was never a formal document between the two men in writing, Castor explained, and he decided against drafting a document because he had no plans of prosecuting Cosby.
Castor also said accuser Andrea Constand’s “actions … created a credibility issue for her that could never be improved upon” and that statements from other alleged victims were “very old.”
Castor did say he believed Constand was telling the truth but argued that she had waited too long to come forward. Castor also said Constand contacted a civil lawyer in Philadelphia, weakening the prosecution’s case.
Today, attorney Jack Schmitt, who has been a legal adviser to Cosby since 1983, testified that he would never have let the comedian give his 2005 deposition in the Constand civil suit if he thought there was a chance Cosby would one day be prosecuted, according to the Associated Press.
Constand, a former Temple University employee, claimed the comedian invited her to his Pennsylvania home in 2004 and made two sexual advances despite her rebuffs. She also claimed Cosby gave her pills and wine, which made her unresponsive and unable to move. At that point, she claims Cosby sexually assaulted her.
Cosby gave the deposition in 2005, which was just released last year to the public after U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno unsealed it. In the deposition, Cosby admitted that he gave Quaaludes to one woman in the past.
Schmitt was the second witness the Cosby legal team has called on in the past two days in an effort to get Judge Steven T. O’Neill to throw out the aggravated indecent assault charge.
Constand’s lawyer Dolores Troiani has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
In addition to the deposition released from the Constand civil suit last year, the charge also came after a barrage of women accused Cosby of sexual misconduct, dating back to the 1960s. Cosby fired back in early December, filing a countersuit for defamation against seven women who previously accused him of sexual misconduct.
Read Full Article – http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/bill-cosby-returns-court-assault-case/story?id=36685259
