Possible deal with ex-DA focus of Cosby hearing

Bill Cosby spent seven hours Tuesday huddled with his defense team in a packed suburban Philadelphia courtroom as a judge heard testimony on whether the sexual assault case against him should be dismissed.

At the crux of the hearing were past statements by former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor, the defense’s loquacious key witness and the only person to testify on Tuesday.

As Cosby’s legal team called him, Castor traded barbs with the prosecutors, led by District Attorney Kevin Steele. At one point from the witness stand Castor snapped at the defense, “Let’s be clear. I’m not on your team here.”

Castor had said he made an oral promise to Cosby’s 2005 lawyer, Walter Phillips, that Cosby would not be charged with sexually assaulting Andrea Constand if Cosby testified in the parallel civil case filed against him by Constand. The unsealing of his deposition in that case eventually led to Cosby being charged last year with assaulting her.

Common Pleas Court Judge Steven T. O’Neill questioned Castor’s deal before dismissing court for the evening. The hearing will continue on Wednesday.　　

“If you had thought there was an agreement, why would you not write it down?” O’Neill asked.　

From the stand, Castor testified that he decided not to prosecute Cosby — nor did he think Cosby would ever be able to be prosecuted — because of Constand’s lack of credibility.

“My choices were to leave the case open and hope it got better or definitively close the case and allow the civil court to provide redress to Ms. Constand,” Castor said. “... In this instance I did not think there was any possibility the case would ever get better.”

As he walked into the Norristown courtroom, Cosby, 78, leaned on his guards and his attorneys, Brian McMonagle and Monique Pressley. Cosby arrived with a cane and appeared to grimace as he sat.

He wore a green suit and occasionally broke from his stoicism to chuckle with his defense team and security detail during breaks.　

The actor and comedian was charged in December with sexually assaulting Constand, a former basketball manager at Temple University, Cosby’s alma mater. She is one of dozens of women who have accused Cosby of drugging and molesting them but is the only one whose allegations have led to criminal charges.

Castor testified that Constand’s credibility was tainted when she gave inconsistent statements, contacted a civil-case lawyer before contacting the police and communicated with Cosby many times after the alleged assault. Some of those telephone communications, Castor testified, were illegally wiretapped by Constand.

During more than three hours of questioning by Cosby’s defense, Castor indicated that he saw credibility problems with other women’s allegations against Cosby as well because they all took some time between the alleged assaults and filing police reports.

In the courtroom Tuesday with dozens of reporters and spectators was Kristen Houser, vice president of public relations for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape.

Just as she had done during the child sex abuse trial of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, Houser came to the courthouse to spread awareness about sexual assault, not to focus on the legal issues of the case.

Speaking with a reporter during a break, Houser said that when Castor discussed “credibility” problems for Constand, she understood that he meant credibility in persuading jurors, who are not usually experts in the behavior of sexual assault survivors.

“We have a public who thinks it looks like ‘Law and Order’ or ‘CSI,’ but it really is a much more convoluted thing,” Houser said. She noted that it is not uncommon for sexual assault survivors to delay reporting abuse or to remain in contact with their alleged assailants.

Those behaviors often occur in sexual assault cases in which the two people involved, such as Cosby and Constand, know and trust one another, she said. It’s difficult for survivors of trauma to come to terms with the fact that a friend violated their trust by harming them, she said.

Plus, she added, “Trust comes with celebrity and power.”

Cosby, a Philadelphia native, began his career as a stand-up comic but became nationally beloved in the 1980s and ’90s for his portrayal of Cliff Huxtable on “The Cosby Show.”

As he shattered racial barriers on TV and refused to curse in his comedy acts, he became synonymous with family values. He received more than 60 honorary degrees from universities, many of which have since have been revoked.

The unsealing of court records in the civil case against Cosby led to his arraignment on assault charges last year. In the unsealed deposition, Cosby said he gave sedatives to women for the purpose of having sex with them. However, his lawyers have said Cosby would not have agreed to be questioned in the civil case — and to incriminate himself — if not for the deal not to be prosecuted.

Phillips, Cosby’s criminal lawyer in 2005, has died, and his current attorneys have maintained that their client only answered questions in the civil case because of his knowledge of that deal. Constand’s legal team has denied that such a deal was made.

If the sexual assault case proceeds and Cosby is convicted, he could be sentenced to five to 10 years in prison.

This story was originally published February 2, 2016 at 7:58 PM with the headline "Possible deal with ex-DA focus of Cosby hearing."