Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Castor no stranger to national spotlight
NORRISTOWN » Former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr., hired Sunday to be part of former President Donald Trump’s defense team during his upcoming Senate impeachment trial, is no stranger to the national spotlight.
Castor’s decision not to charge actor Bill Cosby in 2005 when a former Temple University employee accused Cosby of drugging and molesting her, his appearance as a defense witness at Cosby’s eventual trial and his appearances on the Discovery ID channel discussing some of his high-profile prosecutions as a law and order man have all garnered Castor national attention and TV face time during his career.
Castor, 59, of Lower Salford, who currently works in private practice for the Philadelphia law firm Van der Veen, O’Neill, Hartshorn and Levin, could not be reached for comment Monday regarding his hiring by the Trump team, the latest turn of events to thrust him into the national spotlight.
But during a January 2008 interview as he prepared to end his 22-year career as a prosecutor, Castor told a reporter the greatest feeling was heading into trial knowing he was prepared and ready to go. At the time, Castor told a MediaNews Group reporter, “I absolutely loved wearing the white hat, righting wrongs and being the good guy.”
All eyes will be on Castor as his legal strategy for Trump will be revealed when the Senate impeachment trial begins Feb. 9.
Castor, who grew up in Abington, began his career in the county district attorney’s office in 1985 as an intern. He rose through the
ranks and was promoted to first assistant district attorney in 1993 in an office then headed by former District Attorney Michael D. Marino.
Castor, a graduate of Washington and Lee University, was elected district attorney in 1999 and reelected in 2003. Armed with charisma, youthful good looks and confidence, the 6-foot 3-inch Castor was the youngest person ever to be elected to the post, at age 38.
“The rewarding moments come so often,” Castor, who prosecuted more than 30 homicide cases, said in 2008 about the life of a top prosecutor.
Castor, who waged an unsuccessful bid for state attorney general in 2004, is a former president of the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association.
Castor’s stint as district attorney ended in January 2008 when was sworn in as a Republican county commissioner, a post to which he was elected in November 2007.
In addition to being county commissioner, Castor’s life included practicing law, working on corporate audits and other internal business investigations, including with the Blue Bellbased firm of Elliott, Greenleaf and later with law partner Lance Rogers in Lower Merion.
Castor, married to the former Elizabeth Pierce and the father of two, Bruce III and Alexandra, served two terms as a county commissioner and in 2015 lost a bid to return as district attorney to Democrat Kevin R. Steele. At the time, Castor attributed his loss to a fractured county GOP and the Democratic voter registration edge in the county.
But the contest was the most talked about race of the political season and garnered unusual and intense local, state and even national attention when Castor and Steele debated in TV ads Castor’s handling of former Temple University employee Andrea Constand’s 2005 sexual misconduct allegations against Cosby.
In a now infamous Feb. 17, 2005, press release, Castor wrote that after consulting with county and Cheltenham detectives he found that “insufficient” evidence existed “upon which any charge against Mr. Cosby could be sustained beyond a reasonable doubt.”
After his 2015 failed attempt to be re-elected district attorney, Castor claimed the Cosby factor “played absolutely no role at all” in his election defeat.
Prosecutors reopened the Cosby investigation in July 2015 after Cosby’s deposition connected to a 2005 civil suit brought by Constand was unsealed by a federal judge. In that deposition, Cosby gave damaging testimony, admitting he obtained quaaludes to give to women with whom he wanted to have sex.
Prosecutors charged Cosby with sexual assault on Dec. 30, 2015, before the 12-year statute of limitations expired for the crimes.
During seven-hours of testimony on Feb. 2, 2016, Castor, the lead witness called by Cosby’s defense team during a hearing at which Cosby sought to dismiss the charges, claimed he made a binding promise to Cosby and his previous lawyer in 2005 that Cosby would never be prosecuted in connection with Constand’s allegations.
Stopping short of calling his decision an “agreement,” Castor claimed he alone as a “sovereign” entity, an aspect of common law, had the authority to make a binding decision.
But Judge Steven T. O’Neill ultimately rejected the claim of a non-prosecution promise and denied Cosby’s request to dismiss the charges. In a carefully worded order, O’Neill said he based the ruling on the arguments of the lawyers and testimony of witnesses, indicating “credibility determinations” were “an inherent part” of his decision.
The judge’s ruling set the stage for Cosby’s trial in June 2017, which ended in a mistrial.
During a September 2018 retrial, a jury convicted Cosby of charges of aggravated indecent assault in connection with sexually assaulting Constand and he was eventually sentenced to three-to-10-years in a state correctional facility.
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.