D.A.: Request to dismiss charges ‘meritless’
NORRISTOWN » Prosecutors argue Bill Cosby’s claim that sexual assault charges should be dismissed against him because prosecutors can’t prove the alleged incident occurred within the statute of limitations is “premature and meritless.”
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele argued in court papers that the criminal complaint lodged against Cosby clearly identifies the relevant timeframe.
“That is adequate to withstand a pretrial challenge based on the statutes of limitations,” Steele wrote, suggesting Cosby’s claim is a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. “The time for defendant to argue this claim is not now. (At trial) he will be free to present any admissible evidence he believes supports his statute of limitations defense. Defendant’s statute of limitations claim is premature and meritless.”
Last month, defense lawyers Thomas Mesereau Jr. and Kathleen Bliss filed court documents contending alleged victim Andrea Constand previously testified the sexual assault occurred at Cosby’s Cheltenham home before Jan. 20,
2004, forcing prosecutors to prove that the incident occurred on an evening somewhere within a 22-day window between Dec. 30, 2003, and Jan. 20, 2004.
The statute of limitations for the crime is 12 years. County prosecutors charged Cosby with aggravated indecent assault on Dec. 30, 2015.
Defense lawyers argued prosecutors must prove, with “reasonable certainty,” that the alleged encounter occurred more recently than 12 years before the date of the criminal complaint — that is, on or after Dec. 30, 2003, or the case must be dismissed.
“In 2003 and 2004, Mr. Cosby had an incredibly active career and was in high demand for performances and appearances. Mr. Cosby’s itineraries, travel records and other contemporaneous documents establish that he was not in Pennsylvania on any day between December 30, 2003, and January 20, 2004,” the defense team wrote in court documents.
But Steele argued Constand “has consistently stated that the sexual assault occurred sometime in or after January 2004,” including at Cosby’s first trial last June.
“Although she gave some later dates in her statements, she was consistent overall in her assertions that the offense occurred sometime in or after January 2004. She has never suggested that it occurred at an earlier time,” Steele responded in court papers.
“The 12-year statute of limitations, therefore, did not expire — at the earliest — until sometime in January 2016. The commonwealth charged defendant before then; it filed charges on December 30, 2015. That evidence alone would be sufficient to defeat defendant’s statute of limitations challenge,” Steele added.
Moreover, Steele argued, Cosby
“Defendant’s statute of limitations claim is premature and meritless.” — Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele
admitted, under oath during a September 2006 deposition, that the encounter occurred in 2004.
Judge Steven T. O’Neill has scheduled a March 5 hearing on the matter.
The judge has set March 29 as the day for jury selection to begin for Cosby’s retrial. Testimony at the retrial is expected to begin April 2.
William Henry Cosby Jr., as his name appears on charging documents, faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault in connection with allegations he had inappropriate sexual contact with Constand, a former Temple University athletic department employee, at his Cheltenham home after plying her with blue pills and wine sometime in January 2004.
Cosby, 80, remains free on 10 percent of $1 million bail, pending the retrial and faces a possible maximum sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison if convicted of the charges.
Cosby’s first trial ended in a mistrial last June 17 after a jury of seven men and five women selected from Allegheny County individually told the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked “on all counts” after deliberating more than 52 hours over six days. The deliberations took longer than the evidentiary portion of the trial.
Steele immediately vowed to seek a retrial.
Mesereau and Bliss replace lawyers Brian J. McMonagle and Angela Agrusa, who represented Cosby at the first trial.
During Cosby’s June trial, McMonagle and Agrusa argued Cosby was the victim of false accusations and that the entertainer and Constand had a “romantic relationship” and consensual sexual contact during the 2004 incident. At one point during the trial, McMonagle stood beside Cosby and suggested to jurors that while Cosby may have been an unfaithful husband, that didn’t make him a criminal.
Prosecutors argued Cosby was a trusted friend and mentor who took advantage of a woman in a “vulnerable state,” and sexually assaulted Constand.
Constand, 44, of Ontario, Canada, testified over two days that after taking the blue pills she began slurring her words and became “frozen” or paralyzed and was unable to fight off Cosby’s sexual advances. Constand claimed Cosby placed her on a couch, touched her breasts, forced her to touch his penis and performed digital penetration all without her consent.
The newspaper does not normally identify victims of sex crimes without their consent but is using Constand’s name because she has identified herself publicly.