No charges against Bill Cosby as investigators close Atlantic City rape case

Bill Cosby will not be charged in connection with actress Lili Bernard's allegations that the comedian sexually assaulted her in Atlantic City in the early 1990s.

"The office of the Atlantic County Prosecutor has terminated its investigation, closed its file and so notified Ms. Bernard's lawyer," Edwin J. Jacobs, Jr., Cosby's New Jersey attorney at Jacobs & Barbone, said via a release.

When Bernard first spoke with police this past May, her case appeared to be a lynchpin in the ongoing Cosby scandal due to New Jersey's lack of a statute of limitations on rape. However, that change in law only dates back to 1996, and Bernard's incident allegedly occurred before that year.

"Whatever she was claiming was far beyond the applicable statute of limitations," Jacobs said. "That was my analysis and the analysis of the Atlantic County Prosecutor."

Bernard, who is represented by Gloria Allred, guest-starred as Mrs. Minnifield in The Cosby Show's final season. She claims that Cosby drugged and raped her in Atlantic City in the 1990s.

Dozens of other women have alleged similar incidents, though many cannot be pursued legally due to the statutes of limitations in the states in which they allegedly occurred.

Cosby, however, will see another accuser, Judy Huth, in court in California. Additionally, the comedian also faces a defamation lawsuit filed jointly by three accusers who say his denials have branded them liars in the public eye.

In that case, Cosby's lawyers have claimed that their client is, in fact, not a public figure in order to keep court documents pertaining to the alleged assaults sealed.