Pennsylvania judge declines to toss Cosby sex assault case

By Daniel Kelley NORRISTOWN, Pa. (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania judge refused to dismiss a sexual assault case against once-celebrated comedian Bill Cosby on Wednesday, clearing the way case against him to move toward trial. Attorneys for Cosby had argued that the entertainer could not be prosecuted due to an agreement reached with a former Montgomery County district attorney. But Pennsylvania Common Pleas Court Judge Steven O'Neill dismissed the immunity claim after a two-day hearing in suburban Philadelphia. "I hereby find no basis to grant the relief requested" by Cosby's lawyers, O'Neill said. Cosby, 78, faces charges of sexually assaulting a woman more than a decade ago. The case now moves to a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence for a trial. Cosby's attorneys had asked the judge to toss out the charges, contending that a deal reached with former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor spared their client from prosecution in exchange for a 2005 civil deposition. In the deposition, Cosby admitted giving what he said was an anti-allergy drug to his alleged victim before a sexual encounter that he described as consensual. The woman, Andrea Constand, now 44, has said Cosby plied her with alcohol and drugs before raping her. More than 50 women have accused the once-celebrated entertainer, whose long career was based on family-friendly comedy, of sexually assaulting them in attacks dating back to the 1960s. Many of the incidents are too old to prosecute. The Pennsylvania case is the only incident for which Cosby has been criminally charged. Castor testified on Tuesday that he had declined to bring charges in 2005 that Cosby had assaulted Constand, a former employee at Cosby's alma mater Temple University in Philadelphia, because he did not consider her case "viable." Defense attorneys on Tuesday presented a 2005 press release from Castor's office that they said amounted to an agreement not to prosecute Cosby. The defense called Cosby's chief attorney, John Schmitt, as a witness on Wednesday. Schmitt testified that would not have allowed Cosby to give the deposition if he had not been sure it could not be used against his client. On cross examination, District Attorney Kevin Steele attacked the idea that Cosby's lawyers would allow a deal that was never spelled out in a formal non-prosecution agreement. Castor said he believed Constand's charges but thought a jury would view her as less than credible because she had waited a year to bring charges and had hired a lawyer to look into a civil suit.