Prosecutors Hope to Show Pattern of Abuse in Cosby Case

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FILE: Bill Cosby (Photo Courtesy:AP)

 

UPDATED: 11/2/16  11:52AM

It’s an argument he’s made in court before. And he’s making it again. Attorneys for Bill Cosby are asking that a judge keep the comedian’s deposition in a civil lawsuit out of his sexual assault trial.

During a hearing yesterday, the defense said Cosby took questions under oath under the assurance that he wouldn’t be charged with a crime. Cosby’s defense team is reviving the argument that he had an oral promise from the district attorney at the time that he wouldn’t be prosecuted over a 2005 sexual encounter with Andrea Constand, a former Temple University basketball manager.

The judge has refused to dismiss the charges on those same grounds. But now attorneys for Cosby want the judge to keep the jury in his criminal case from hearing the deposition that grew out of the civil suit. The hearing continues today, with lawyers for both sides haggling over what evidence will – and won’t – be allowed in when Cosby faces trial next June.

 

Original post: 

(Philadelphia/AP) — Prosecutors preparing for Bill Cosby’s sexual-assault trial hope to call 13 other accusers to try to show he drugged and molested women as part of a “signature” crime spree over five decades.

The defense will attack their credibility and try again to have the case thrown out at a pretrial hearing starting Tuesday in suburban Philadelphia.

The 79-year-old entertainer is charged over a single 2004 encounter with a former Temple University employee.

Pennsylvania law also allows testimony about “prior bad acts” if they fit a nearly identical crime pattern.

Prosecutors say Cosby routinely used his fame and power to befriend impressionable young women, then drugged and sexually assaulted them.

Cosby has pleaded not guilty and remains free on $1 million bail.

Source: AP

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