Gloria Allred Addresses Cosby’s Arrest

The case will likely come down to who has more credibility with a jury, criminal defence lawyers said: Cosby, who was once a dominant presence on USA television, or accuser Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee who went to police 11 years ago and then sued Cosby when prosecutors did not initially act.

That deposition, which Mr. Cosby never thought would become public and which he fought to keep secret, apparently provided the additional evidence prosecutors said they needed to bring charges against him before the statute of limitations expired.

In many other alleged assaults from decades ago, Cosby can’t be charged because the statutes of limitations have passed.

Elmore told The Daily Beast that Cosby’s once-beloved name has been destroyed in part by attorney Gloria Allred, who represents more than 20 of the Cosby accusers.

Is this case likely to open the floodgates for other cases? The experts also said the wave of accusations against Cosby by dozens of women over the past year strengthened the prosecution’s case even if the women are not permitted to testify, because their denunciations have resonated broadly.

“It appears that the prosecutor has indicated that if there are other alleged victims of Mr. Cosby that they should contact law enforcement in Montgomery County”, she told CNN’s John Vause.

Soon after Cosby and Constand’s mother spoke by phone, authorities in Pennsylvania launched an investigation. Those women contend Cosby defamed them by allowing his representatives to brand them as liars.

One woman was a former Playboy playmate who says she met Bill Cosby in the Hollywood Hills.

Ms Constand, who now lives in Toronto, has declined to speak to reporters but she tweeted on Thursday: “Let’s all stay classy plz!”

A probable cause affidavit filed by investigators this week alleges that Cosby “sought to incapacitate” Constand by giving her a mix of pills and wine that sent her slipping in and out of consciousness and left her unable to consent to sexual activity.

BloombergBusiness has put 78-year-old Cosby’s net worth at about $400 million. Cosby claimed that anything that happened with Constand was consensual.

The irony of Bill Cosby has been evident for months: a beloved father figure, a public moralist, accused again and again and again of being a sexual predator, of taking advantage of his public standing for years.

Despite the accusations and cancellation of TV deals, Cosby has continued touring live as a stand-up comedian to rave reviews by fans. For some colleges, this was the first time they revoked an honorary degree. But Pressley claims it’s all the result of the district attorney’s office playing politics. It read: “The charge by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office came as no surprise, filed 12 years after the alleged incident and coming on the heels of a hotly contested election for this county’s DA during which this case was made the focal point”.

Constand has said she returned to Cosby’s house because she considered him a mentor and trusted him, and had had several subsequent meetings with him in which nothing inappropriate occurred, according to the criminal complaint.

“In cases of rape and abuse, abusers will do whatever they can to intimidate and weaken their victims to force them to stop fighting”, Johnson said in a statement.

“The evidence is strong and sufficient enough to proceed with the charges”, Steele added.

The case was reopened after a 2005 deposition was released earlier this year in which Cosby admitted he gave quaaludes to women.

But as the chorus of accusers grew louder, the media demanded to see the court documents, and a judge unsealed them.