Bill Cosby Again Denied Halt In Criminal Case Over 2004 Rape Claim; Expected In Court Tomorrow
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One day before Bill Cosby is scheduled to appear in a Pennsylvania court for a preliminary hearing on a trio of felony second-degree aggravated indecent assault charges that could land him 10-years behind bars, the actor today was denied a pause in the proceedings so he could pursue an appeal.
“AND NOW, this 23rd day of May, 2016, the Application for Stay is DENIED,” the Supreme Court of the Keystone State said succinctly on Monday (read it here).
Out on $1 million bail after being charged the much accused Cosby was basically arguing again that because a previous D.A. in Pennsylvania’s Montgomery County promised never to prosecute him back in 2005, the current D.A. has no right to now do so. “Mr. Cosby has a constitutional right to meaningful appellate review, and the Commonwealth’s commitment never to bring this prosecution should be enforced now,” his May 12 petition to the state high court said.
Current Montgomery County D.A. Kevin Steele filed an answer to the petition for review on May 19 asking that it be rejected as the PA Superior Court had already done and the top state court agreed. Which means The Cosby Show creator will be in Judge Steven O’Neill’s Norristown, PA courtroom tomorrow morning to face evidence from Steele’s team and possibly face his alleged victim of 12-years ago, ex-Temple University employee Andrea Constand.
After trying unsuccessfully in early February to get the case shut down based on the supposed no-prosecution agreement with the former D.A., Cosby and his lawyers on February 12 filed a direct appeal to PA’s Superior Court to appeal Judge O’Neill’s ruling of February 3 that the Constand case involving the criminal charges could go forward. Not long afterward,Steele filed paperwork asking the higher court to reject Cosby’s appeal attempt until after a trial is completed.
With more than 50 women across the nation claiming that Cosby drugged and assaulted them over the decades, newly elected Steele laid the first criminal charges against the actor at the end of 2015 to beat Pennsylvania’s 12-year statute of limitations for such crimes. Cosby was arraigned December 30 and released on $1 million bail without entering a plea. Constand and Cosby had come to a settlement a decade ago in a civil case — a settlement Cosby now wants back because he says Constand and her attorneys broke the confidentiality agreement of that deal.
The Pennsylvania Superior Court put a stay on on the criminal matter on March 1, just a week before 78-year-old Cosby was set to originally be in O’Neill’s courtroom for the first preliminary hearing on the charges arising from an alleged 2004 drugging and sexual assault of Constand. That stay was lifted late last month when the Superior Court quashed Cosby’s appeal and Judge O’Neill set a new preliminary hearing date. That date of tomorrow still stands.
Source:Deadline
“AND NOW, this 23rd day of May, 2016, the Application for Stay is DENIED,” the Supreme Court of the Keystone State said succinctly on Monday (read it here).
Out on $1 million bail after being charged the much accused Cosby was basically arguing again that because a previous D.A. in Pennsylvania’s Montgomery County promised never to prosecute him back in 2005, the current D.A. has no right to now do so. “Mr. Cosby has a constitutional right to meaningful appellate review, and the Commonwealth’s commitment never to bring this prosecution should be enforced now,” his May 12 petition to the state high court said.
Current Montgomery County D.A. Kevin Steele filed an answer to the petition for review on May 19 asking that it be rejected as the PA Superior Court had already done and the top state court agreed. Which means The Cosby Show creator will be in Judge Steven O’Neill’s Norristown, PA courtroom tomorrow morning to face evidence from Steele’s team and possibly face his alleged victim of 12-years ago, ex-Temple University employee Andrea Constand.
After trying unsuccessfully in early February to get the case shut down based on the supposed no-prosecution agreement with the former D.A., Cosby and his lawyers on February 12 filed a direct appeal to PA’s Superior Court to appeal Judge O’Neill’s ruling of February 3 that the Constand case involving the criminal charges could go forward. Not long afterward,Steele filed paperwork asking the higher court to reject Cosby’s appeal attempt until after a trial is completed.
With more than 50 women across the nation claiming that Cosby drugged and assaulted them over the decades, newly elected Steele laid the first criminal charges against the actor at the end of 2015 to beat Pennsylvania’s 12-year statute of limitations for such crimes. Cosby was arraigned December 30 and released on $1 million bail without entering a plea. Constand and Cosby had come to a settlement a decade ago in a civil case — a settlement Cosby now wants back because he says Constand and her attorneys broke the confidentiality agreement of that deal.
The Pennsylvania Superior Court put a stay on on the criminal matter on March 1, just a week before 78-year-old Cosby was set to originally be in O’Neill’s courtroom for the first preliminary hearing on the charges arising from an alleged 2004 drugging and sexual assault of Constand. That stay was lifted late last month when the Superior Court quashed Cosby’s appeal and Judge O’Neill set a new preliminary hearing date. That date of tomorrow still stands.
Source:Deadline
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