A Pennsylvania judge is defending his ruling to dismiss Bill Cosby's motion for a pretrial appeal in his sexual-assault case. Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Steven O'Neill claimed that the 78-year-old comedian has no ground to appeal on his ruling.
The disgraced TV personality and movie actor is pursuing a motion that would discharge his sexual assault case in Pennsylvania prior to his trial, Billings Gazette reports. Cosby claimed that his former lawyer and past prosecutor District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. had a non-prosecution agreement in 2005. According to Cosby, the deal would prevent him from being charged over the sexual assault allegations filed to him by Andrea Constand in 2005. However, Judge O'Neill remained firm that there's no evidence of such an agreement.
Judge O'Neill argued that Cosby's motion for an appeal does not involve questions of basic human rights, and is not an issue of great public importance, according to Philly. He added, if Cosby would be permitted to make an appeal in the higher court, it would just only delay the sexual assault case filed by Constand. The judge claimed that Cosby could contest that the deposition he made in 2006 could not be utilized as a criminal proof because of a promise made that he won't be ever charged. "Not only will his claims not be lost," O'Neill wrote, "they will also be subject to further review by this court even before review by appellate courts if he is ultimately convicted."
The judge said that there's no pint of delaying the case despite Cosby's appeal. He reiterated that Camille's husband could file a post-trial appeal if he would be charged in the sexual assault case. Earlier this month, Cosby sued his accuser Constand just before his key pretrial hearing in Pennsylvania. He claimed that the 42-year-old massage therapist infringed their confidential civil suit in 2005 after she gave evidences to the police last year, NBC Philadelphia claims.
On Monday, Cosby's wife, Camille gave her deposition over the defamation lawsuit filed by seven women in Massachusetts. Cosby's next court appearance would be on March 8.
