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NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — The former district attorney who declined to arrest Bill Cosby on sex-crime charges a decade ago testified Tuesday that he essentially granted the comedian lifetime immunity from prosecution in the case.
Former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor took the stand in a bid by Cosby’s lawyers to get the case against the TV star thrown out long before trial because of what they say is a non-prosecution agreement with Castor.
The current district attorney insists there is no record of any such promise.
Castor admitted the only place the matter was put in writing was in the 2005 press release announcing his decision not to prosecute.
He acknowledged that he didn’t draw up a formal immunity agreement filed with a judge because, he said, Cosby was afraid that would make him look bad. Also, Castor said, “It was unnecessary because I concluded there was no way the case would get any better.” And he said Cosby’s lawyers did not insist on such a document.
The proceedings will resume on Wednesday, when Common Pleas Judge Steven T. O’Neill said he hopes to rule on whether to throw out the case.
Cosby, 78, was arrested and charged in December with drugging and violating former Temple University athletic department employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004. He could get up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Castor said Tuesday that he believed Constand’s story but that proving it would have been problematic because of serious flaws in the case, including what he called her inconsistencies and continued contact with Cosby. In deciding not to bring charges, he said, he meant to protect Cosby from prosecution “for all time.”
And he suggested that Cosby and his then-lawyer understood it that way too, because Cosby later agreed to testify without invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a lawsuit brought against him by Constand.
“Cosby would’ve had to have been nuts to say those things if there was any chance he could’ve been prosecuted,” Castor said, referring to the damaging testimony unsealed last summer.
Castor said he hoped — correctly, it turned out — his ruling would prod Cosby to testify in the lawsuit and help Constand win damages. She eventually settled for an undisclosed amount.
“I was hopeful that I had made Ms. Constand a millionaire,” the former DA said.
He said he and Cosby’s then-attorney, Walter Phillips, did not have an actual agreement that Cosby would testify in exchange for not being prosecuted. Phillips has since died.
Kevin Steele, the newly elected DA who is pursuing the case, has said Cosby would need an immunity agreement in writing to get the case thrown out. He has said he has no evidence one exists.
Former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor took the stand in a bid by Cosby’s lawyers to get the case against the TV star thrown out long before trial because of what they say is a non-prosecution agreement with Castor.
The current district attorney insists there is no record of any such promise.
Castor admitted the only place the matter was put in writing was in the 2005 press release announcing his decision not to prosecute.
He acknowledged that he didn’t draw up a formal immunity agreement filed with a judge because, he said, Cosby was afraid that would make him look bad. Also, Castor said, “It was unnecessary because I concluded there was no way the case would get any better.” And he said Cosby’s lawyers did not insist on such a document.
The proceedings will resume on Wednesday, when Common Pleas Judge Steven T. O’Neill said he hopes to rule on whether to throw out the case.
Cosby, 78, was arrested and charged in December with drugging and violating former Temple University athletic department employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004. He could get up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
Castor said Tuesday that he believed Constand’s story but that proving it would have been problematic because of serious flaws in the case, including what he called her inconsistencies and continued contact with Cosby. In deciding not to bring charges, he said, he meant to protect Cosby from prosecution “for all time.”
And he suggested that Cosby and his then-lawyer understood it that way too, because Cosby later agreed to testify without invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a lawsuit brought against him by Constand.
“Cosby would’ve had to have been nuts to say those things if there was any chance he could’ve been prosecuted,” Castor said, referring to the damaging testimony unsealed last summer.
Castor said he hoped — correctly, it turned out — his ruling would prod Cosby to testify in the lawsuit and help Constand win damages. She eventually settled for an undisclosed amount.
“I was hopeful that I had made Ms. Constand a millionaire,” the former DA said.
He said he and Cosby’s then-attorney, Walter Phillips, did not have an actual agreement that Cosby would testify in exchange for not being prosecuted. Phillips has since died.
Kevin Steele, the newly elected DA who is pursuing the case, has said Cosby would need an immunity agreement in writing to get the case thrown out. He has said he has no evidence one exists.