Bill Cosby Prosecutors: “No Merit” to Cosby’s Motion to Dismiss
On Monday, Bill Cosby‘s lawyers filed a lengthy motion to dismiss one charge of indecent assault against him in Montgomery County, and one day later, prosecutors have fired back with a statement saying that the motion has “no merit.”
Here is the full statement made by new Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele on Tuesday:
The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the lengthy motion filed with the court yesterday in the aggravated indecent assault case against the defendant William H. Cosby and will be filing a response with the court.
We are not surprised by this filing, which has no merit. My office does not try any case in the court of public opinion. We try them in a court of law. We will be filing a response to their motion, and we will let our legal response to their motion speak for itself.
In December, Cosby was charged with with one count of indecent assault, a first-degree felony. The charge stems from former Temple Basketball employee Andrea Constand‘s accusation that Cosby assaulted her at his Cheltenham home in 2004. Former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor declined to prosecute Cosby in 2005 after Constand originally came forward.
In their motion, Cosby’s lawyers argued that the charges were “illegally, improperly and unethically brought” by Steele and that they “violate an express agreement made by the Montgomery County District Attorney in 2005, in which the Commonwealth agreed that Mr. Cosby would never be prosecuted with respect to the allegations of sexual assault made by complainant Andrea Constand.”
Cosby was arrested in December and later released after posting 10 percent of his $1 million bail. A January 14th preliminary hearing in front of Montgomery County Judge Elizabeth McHugh was continued until February 2nd.
More than 50 women have come forward to accuse Cosby of sexually assault or similar offenses. Cosby has denied any wrongdoing.
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