Judge to decide whether ‘immunity deal’ valid in Bill Cosby case

CNN reported Friday night on the existence of an email that could conceivably derail the Montgomery County sexual assault case against Bill Cosby.

Former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor will be a key defense witness at a February 2 hearing to determine if the case is thrown out.

The defence argues that prosecutors who arrested Cosby last month unfairly used his deposition evidence from the accuser’s 2005 lawsuit against him.

‘I can not believe any state court judge would allow that deposition into evidence…. But Cosby has now been charged with sexually assaulting Constand.

But CNN’s Michael Smerconish says he has an email between two former prosecutors sent this fall saying that deposition happened because Cosby had been promised criminal charges wouldn’t be filed.

In explaining the agreement he made in the email to successor Risa Vetri Ferman, Castor explained he was attempting to help Constand in the case by removing the prospect of Cosby invoking his 5th Amendment right.

Cosby lawyer Brian McMonagle wrote in the defense motion that the state agreed Cosby would never be prosecuted with respect to the allegations of sexual assault made by the Temple employee, Andrea Constand. The allegations by Constand are at the center of the current criminal case.

In a statement Monday, Cosby’s attorneys claimed that the charges against the former funnyman were “illegally, improperly and unethically brought by District Attorney Kevin Steele and his office”.

‘Now, to fulfill campaign promises, the newly-elected District Attorney has repudiated the agreement and has based these criminal charges on this very testimony, ‘ McMonagle wrote.

The deposition is considered a key piece of evidence, cited by prosecutors as the impetus for reopening the case.

But new District Attorney Kevin Steele says there’s no evidence of a signed immunity agreement. Whether or not the case against Cosby stands will be in how a judge feels about this so-called deal.

Several women have accused Cosby of drugging and molesting them. His lawyers will also attack the 12-year delay to file charges and Steele’s plan to call other Cosby accusers to show a pattern of behavior.

During the civil claim deposition, Mr Cosby admitted giving Ms Constand wine and pills but said she consented to take them.

Constand is now a massage therapist in Toronto.

While Cosby’s 2005 lawyer, Walter M. Phillips Jr., who reportedly negotiated the non-prosecution agreement, is now deceased, Cosby and Castor could testify about its existence, the lawyers hinted in court papers. She is among dozens of women who have come forward to accuse Cosby of sexual assault.