Montco DA Says Statute of Limitations Prevents New Prosecution of Bill Cosby
By Jim Melwert
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- The latest bombshell revelations in the long-running Bill Cosby sexual predation case won't spark any criminal charges against the disgraced entertainer.
Newly unsealed court documents show Cosby admitting he obtained prescription sedatives for women he wanted to have sex with.
A Temple University staffer was the first to bring accusations against Cosby in 2005, for an incident she said happened at Cosby's mansion in Cheltenham in 2004. No charges were ever filed in that case and a private settlement was reached.
Today, Montgomery County district attorney Risa Ferman said there's nothing her office can do with the new information regarding the prescription drugs or Cosby's admissions.
"As we sit here today, in 2015, we're in a situation where any statute of limitations for any criminal acts would have long since passed," she told KYW Newsradio.
Ferman says she can't speculate on if or how the unsealed testimony might have changed the decision of her predecessor, Bruce Castor, not to bring charges against Cosby.
But, she says, there is something to be taken from this:
"The idea that if you have to drug someone to get their consent, then it's not consensual. It's something we need to be talking about openly with young men and young women as they're going off to college and then going out into the world."
Ferman says even though the newly revealed documents won't be used to bring any criminal charges against Cosby, she agrees that they could be used in civil cases against him.
