LF: Smiling Bill Cosby waves and gives a thumbs up as he drives off after hearing in sex assault case where former district attorney testified he agreed to NEVER prosecute the actor

Title: Smiling Bill Cosby waves and gives a thumbs up as he drives off after hearing in sex assault case where former district attorney testified he agreed to NEVER prosecute the actor
Source: Daily Mail Online
URL Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art ... yers-push-charges-dropped.html
Published: Feb 2, 2016
Author: Associated Press and Chris Spargo For Da
Post Date: 2016-02-02 21:13:09 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 1148
Comments: 11

Bill Cosby emerged from a Pennsylvania courthouse smiling and waving on Tuesday afternoon after a judge heard testimony that could result in his sex assault case being dismissed.

The actor then gave a thumbs up as he drove off, shortly after a former district attorney testified that he agreed to never prosecute the comedian after he gave a deposition in the civil suit filed by his alleged victim in the 2005 case for which he has now been charged.

Former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor said on the stand Tuesday that his unwillingness to prosecute Cosby was rooted in the fact that former Temple University employee Andrea Constand waited a year to file her criminal complaint and had hired a lawyer to explore a civil lawsuit.

The former DA also said he believed his decision to give Cosby immunity in 2005 would free him up to testify in Constand's civil suit without fear of repercussions, and that despite his own wishes his actions are binding on his successors and forever closes the door on prosecuting the comedian.

The current district attorney has said there is no record of any such agreement.

Bill Cosby was smiling and waved to the crowd after he emerged from court in Pennsylvania on Tuesday

This cheerful behavior came shortly after a former district attorney testified that he agreed to never prosecute the comedian after he gave a deposition in the civil suit filed by his alleged victim in the 2005 case for which he has now been charged

He then gave a thumbs up as he drove off after a district attorney admitted he had agreed to never prosecute the actor in his 2005 sex assault case

Cosby departs in his vehicle after a preliminary hearing on sexual assault charges at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristow

Cosby, 78, was arrested and charged in December with drugging and violating Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004. He could get up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Castor said Tuesday that he found serious flaws in the case and declined to bring charges. He said that he made the decision as a representative of the state — as ‘the sovereign,’ as he put it, over and over — and that it would last in perpetuity.

‘For all time, yes,’ Castor said when pressed on the point.

And he suggested that Cosby and his lawyer at the time had the same understanding, because Cosby later agreed to testify without invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a civil lawsuit brought against him by Constand.

‘Cosby would've had to have been nuts to say those things if there was any chance he could've been prosecuted,’ Castor said.

Castor said he hoped, correctly, at the time that the decision would free the comedian to testify in the suit and help Constand win damages. She eventually settled for an undisclosed amount.

‘I did not believe it was just to go forward with the criminal prosecution, but I wanted there to be some measure of justice’ for Costand, Castor said.

He added: ‘I was hopeful that I had made Ms. Constand a millionaire.’

He said he relayed word to Cosby's then-attorney, Walter Phillips, that Cosby would not be charged. However, Castor said the two lawyers did not have ‘an agreement’ that Cosby would testify.

‘Mr. Phillips never agreed to do anything in exchange for Mr. Cosby not being prosecuted,’ Castor said. ‘I thought making Mr. Cosby pay money was the best I was going to be able to set the stage for.’

Phillips has since passed away.

Kevin Steele, the newly elected DA who is pursuing the criminal case, has said Cosby would need an immunity agreement in writing to get the case thrown out. He has said he has no evidence one exists.

Cosby was met by police officers when his black SUV pulled up outside the courthouse Tuesday morning

Chaperones: The embattled elderly comic was accompanied by two men who held his arms for support

One of Cosby's chaperons, left, carried Cosby's wooden cane as they walked to the courthouse

Former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor (left) testified Tuesday that he believes his decision not to bring charges agianst Cosby forever bars his successors, including current DA Kevin Steele (right) from prosecuting the comedian

Damaging testimony from Constand's lawsuit, which was released only last year, prompted the successors of Bruce Castor to reopen the case and ultimately charge the 78-year-old Cosby with felony sexual assault. Cosby has not yet entered a plea.

Cosby admitted in the deposition that he had a series of affairs with young models and actresses, obtained quaaludes to give women before sex and gave Constand, a former Temple University athletics employee, three pills before a January 2004 encounter at his home. He called it consensual, but she said she was drugged and violated.

Castor defended his decision not to bring charges, testifying that he saw Constand's year-long delay in reporting the allegations, inconsistencies in her statements and her contact with a lawyer before going to police as red flags.

Castor said Constand's delay in going to authorities was of 'enormous significance' in his consideration of the case. He said it thwarted his ability to test her hair or fingernails for evidence she was drugged.

'I decided that because of defects in the case, the case could not be won and that I was going to make a decision that we would not prosecute Mr. Cosby,' Castor said during today's hearing.

Still, Castor said, he investigated the case thoroughly because he wanted to show authorities in Constand's native Canada that celebrities don't get preferential treatment in America.

Legal gambit: Members of Bill Cosby's law team, from left, Monique Pressley, Christopher Tayback and Brian McMonagle, contend that the comic had a deal with a prosecutor in 2005 that he wouldn't be prosecuted and should testify freely in accuser Andrea Constand's lawsuit

Accuser: Andrea Constand, pictured in December walking her dogs in Toronto, Canada, accused Cosby of drugging and assaulting her in 2004

Meanwhile in California: Model Chloe Goins (left) on Tuesday abruptly dropped her lawsuit against Cosby. Also today, a judge ordered the comic to be deposed for a second time in the case of Judy Huth (right)

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 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 Castor as district attorney in 2008. She reopened the complaint last fall, asking Castor to submit any documentation of the supposed deal.

Castor pointed to a 2005 press release about his decision not to prosecute Cosby.

Steele defeated Castor in the November election to succeed Ferman. He believes that Cosby needs a written immunity deal to get the case thrown out.

Going solo: Cosby's wife, Camille, did not accompany her beleaguered husband to court on Tuesday

Dressed in a dark brown suit, walking with a cane and flanked by attorneys and what appeared to be a security guard, Cosby sat stonily during Tuesday's proceeding and did not speak.

Cosby's lawyers have asked Common Pleas Court Judge Steven O'Neill to dismiss the case, citing the supposed agreement reached in 2005 with Castor.

Prosecutors in Los Angeles County early this month decided not to charge Cosby over two alleged cases of sexual assault dating to 1965 and 2008.

It's not immediately clear when Judge O'Neill will rule on the motion to dismiss.(14 images)

One prosecutor's decision doesn't bind a different one despite what Bruce Castor testified (I wonder what his payoff was ? ) .

During his lengthy testimony, Castor said that he did not have the power to enter into such an arrangement.

http://billsinsider.com/2016/02/03/74464-bill-cosby-in-court-former-da-says- comedian-is-shielded/

New evidence has emerged ;new complaints . Maybe the judge will decide that Cosby's testimony in the civil case can't be used . But there is plenty of other evidence available .

"If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools." Plato

What a shame. After a very successful career, with great wealth, and great popularity, this is how he will be remembered.

President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. --Clint Eastwood

By now, of course, there is no evidence that she was raped or even had sex with him. Just her word. And rape victims never lie.

"During his lengthy testimony, Castor said that he did not have the power to enter into such an arrangement."

http://billsinsider.com/2016/02/03/74464-bill-cosby-in-court-former-da-says- comedian-is-shielded/

This was not a plea bargain. This was a handshake agreement with Cosby's lawyer . There wasn't even any paperwork involved in the agreement . Only a judge may issue an order granting immunity in Pennsylvania.

Here's what's happening here . The current prosecutor Kevin R. Steele beat Castor in the elections by promising to prosecute Cosby . Castor wants to undermine the prosecution by binding Steele to an informal agreement he made with Cosby's former attorney . It’s pretty implausible that Cosby’s lawyers back then would’ve missed the fact that the district attorney was making a promise he couldn’t keep. If they did miss that then they suck at what they do. What lawyer making a deal like that would do it on a non-binding hand shake ?

"If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools." Plato

“I made the final determination as the sovereign and not Bruce Castor D.A.,” Castor also said on the stand in Norristown, PA at a pre-trial hearing. “I am the sovereign of Montgomery County, as the sovereign I determined we would not prosecute Mr. Cosby and that would then set off chain of events would gain some justice for Ms. Andrea Constand."

Ok I'm stumped . Someone has to explain that term as it applied to the jurisdiction . Anyway the judge ruled against the motion and said the trial can proceed .

"If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools." Plato

The District Attorney is the chief law enforcement officer of the sovereign state, charged with the power to proceed with, or withhold from, prosecution of persons charged with criminal offenses.

I can't site Pa law. But the sites I researched said immunity has to come from a judge . The judge in this case agrees.

"If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools." Plato