Judge orders hearing on Cosby claims
A judge on Wednesday ordered Bill Cosby and other potential witnesses to appear in court next month for a hearing on Cosby's bid to dismiss the sexual-assault case against him or bar Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele's office from prosecuting it.
A judge on Wednesday ordered Bill Cosby and other potential witnesses to appear in court next month for a hearing on Cosby's bid to dismiss the sexual-assault case against him or bar Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele's office from prosecuting it.
Just two days after Cosby's lawyers filed a motion challenging the prosecution, Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O'Neill scheduled a Feb. 2 hearing, setting up the first showdown between county prosecutors and the entertainer's defense team.
That had been the scheduled date for a preliminary hearing on the aggravated indecent assault charge against Cosby, but instead will be a hearing on whether the case should proceed and who can prosecute it.
"Counsel, the defendant and all witnesses shall be present" at the Norristown hearing, according to the order from O'Neill, who will preside.
Cosby's lawyers contend that Steele's decision to charge him last month violates a "non-prosecution agreement" approved by then-District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. in 2005, when former Temple University employee Andrea Constand first reported that Cosby had assaulted her in his Cheltenham home.
In their motion, defense lawyers Monique Pressley and Brian McMonagle said that they would call Castor as a witness and that he would confirm such an agreement.
Cosby, 78, claims the non-prosecution agreement from Castor was the only reason he agreed to submit to a civil deposition in a lawsuit filed by Constand - a deposition that current prosecutors have cited in bringing the charges.
Castor has declined to comment.
Steele issued a statement Tuesday saying the defense filing had "no merit," and promising to respond with a court filing. O'Neill gave him two weeks to do so.
The hearing will also include arguments by Cosby's attorneys to remove the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office from the case.
They contend Steele disqualified himself by discussing the Cosby investigation during his campaign for district attorney last fall against Castor.
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