Bill Cosby Preparing To Face Judge On Tuesday
PHILADELPHIA (AP/KDKA) - Tuesday was scheduled to be a preliminary hearing to determine if there's enough evidence to hold Bill Cosby for trial on charges he sexually assaulted a woman in January 2004 at his Montgomery county Pennsylvania home. Instead, the hearing will focus on whether the case can proceed at all.
The charges came just before the statute of limitations would have expired.
Last December, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said, "On the event in question Mr. Cosby urged her to take pills that he provided to her and to drink wine. The effect of which rendered her unable to move or respond to his advances and he committed aggravated indecent assault upon her."
But the defense argues in court filings that the current DA can't turn his back on what the former DA did. Bruce Castor, the Montgomery County Prosecutor back in 2005 reviewed the woman's claims and determined there wasn't enough evidence to pursue a criminal case at the time.
And they point to a press release from 2005 in which Castor announced his decision.
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The defense also claims that in order to make sure Cosby gave a deposition in a civil lawsuit from that case, a case settled in 2006, there was an agreement Montgomery County would never pursue criminal charges.
But Castor says even that press release opened the door to charges should new evidence become available.
Prosecutors say the new evidence came last July when they decided to look again at the Montgomery county case against Bill Cosby.
On Jan. 21, a defamation lawsuit filed against Cosby by Renita Hill of Pittsburgh was tossed out by western Pennsylvania U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab, who said even when examined in the most favorable light to Hill, there was no case to take to a jury.
Hill's attorney said Cosby and his attorneys words were "a far cry from labeling plaintiff (and the other women who have made similar public assertions) as liars or extortionists."
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