Bill Cosby has arrived at court where his lawyers will ask a judge to throw out the only criminal case lodged against him from the dozens of accusations that he molested women.
Cosby emerged from a black SUV, dressed in a tan suit and tie. Two men held his arms for support as he walked up a ramp to the Montgomery County Courthouse, and one carried Cosby’s cane. He chatted with his handlers while ignoring reporters’ questions.
The defence will argue that Cosby had a deal with a suburban Philadelphia prosecutor in 2005 that he would not be prosecuted and should testify freely in accuser Andrea Constand’s legal case.
That testimony, released only last year, prompted the successors of former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L Castor Jr to reopen the case and ultimately charge the 78-year-old Cosby with felony sexual assault. Cosby has not yet entered a plea.
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Cosby
admitted in the deposition that he had a series of affairs with young
models and actresses, obtained drugs to give women before sex and gave
Ms Constand three pills before a January 2004 encounter at his home. He
called it consensual, but she said she was drugged and violated.In an unusual twist, Mr Castor is slated to be the defence’s key witness. Mr Castor insists that he forged an oral “non-prosecution” agreement in 2005 with Walter M Phillips Jr, a Cosby lawyer who died last year.
It is not clear if anyone can corroborate Mr Castor’s account. However, Temple University board chairman Patrick O’Connor represented Cosby at the deposition. He still represents Cosby in some civil matters.
Anne Poulin, a law professor at Villanova University, said those involved in the case would probably want to hear from O’Connor “on the theory that, certainly as the lawyer representing Cosby in the civil case, he therefore needed to know what (Cosby’s) exposure was to criminal prosecution before he was deposed”.
Ms Poulin believes the defence has a high bar to meet to get the case thrown out early on. At the same time, she said: “If they can win without this ever going to trial, then they’ve done their client a big service.”
Kevin Steele, the new county district attorney, believes Cosby needed an immunity agreement – in writing – to avoid prosecution. He has said he has no evidence that one exists.
The lawyer who served as Mr Castor’s top assistant in 2005 could also be called to testify.
Risa Vetri Ferman, now a county judge, worked on the Constand case before succeeding Mr Castor as district attorney in 2008. She reopened the complaint last fall, asking Mr Castor to submit any documentation of the supposed deal.
Mr Castor pointed to a 2005 press release about his decision not to prosecute Cosby.
Mr Steele defeated Mr Castor in the November election to succeed Ms Ferman. He believes that Cosby needs a written immunity deal to get the case thrown out.