Bill Cosby Loses Another Appeal, Trial Still Set For 2017
Last week, Bill Cosby and his legal team attempted to get his criminal case in Pennsylvania, the only active criminal case against him, thrown out by the D.A. His recently-appointed lead attorney, Angela Agrusa, filed for a motion to dismiss the case, which centers around the alleged assault of former Temple University basketball coach Andrea Constand. It was Cosby’s statements during a 2005 deposition regarding that case that eventually led to the cascade of sexual assault accusations (over 60, now) that have all but buried the actor over the past two years. That motion to dismiss was just recently rejected, and now Agrusa and Cosby’s legal team are attempting to fire back and sway public opinion.
Agrusa and her team are saying that, after Cosby’s deposition, the Montgomery County D.A.’s office said that they would not pursue charges against Cosby. The fact that Kevin Steele, the Montgomery County D.A., decided to re-open the case shortly before the statute of limitations was up, is, according to Agrusa and company, unjust.
“When a defendant is prejudiced by the government’s delay in bringing charges, ‘the absence of valid reasons to justify the late filing of charges will mandate the trial court’ to dismiss those charges,” said Agrusa and her team.
Steele’s “reason to justify filing late charges,” he asserts, was the presentation of more testimony from other women who also claim to have been assaulted by Cosby.
So, the case moves forward for now. Agrusa and Cosby’s legal team will continue to make motions and pleas like the one above, attempting to keep the 79-year-old Cosby from going to trial in June 2017. Meanwhile, the D.A.’s office, which seems intent on assuring Cosby his day in court, insists that Cosby has, and will continue to, game the system and direct blame at everyone else while refusing to take responsibility for his actions.
From D.A. Steele’s most recent filing, declining the motion to dismiss from the Cosby camp:
“But he overlooks one person — himself. He has unclean hands. He has persistently attempted, since as early as 2005, to conceal the deposition testimony that triggered the renewed investigation. His attempt to repackage the years he successfully kept the deposition hidden into a pre-arrest delay claim is as bold as it is fundamentally flawed. The law does not, and should not now, permit such gamesmanship.”
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Bill Tressler
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