Charging 78-year-old comedian Bill Cosby with aggravated sexual assault only days before the statute-of-limitations ran out, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele decided to proceed with second-degree felony charge. Forced to surrender his U.S. passport and post $1 million bond, Cosby is forced to enter a formal plea Jan. 14, 2016 based on 2004 charge from former Temple University employee Andrea Constand. “The charge by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s as no surprise, filed 12 years after the alleged incident and coming on the heels of a hotly contested election for this county’s DA during which this case was made the focal point,” Cosby’s attorney Monique Pressley told ABC News. Cosby’s been accused by some 50 different women over the past 50 years of sexual assault, drugging them into unconsciousness then sexually assaulting them.
Cosby’s attorney Monique Pressley has accused the women of extorting money from her 78-year-old client, despite numerous interviews of Cosby’s accusers essentially saying the same thing, namely, that he drugged, molested and raped women under the influence. “Make no mistake, we intend to mount a vigorous defense against this unjustified charge and we expect Mr. Cosby will be exonerated by a court of law,” said Pressley, not accounting for 50 other women with similar stories. Pressley hopes she can keep the testimony of Cosby’s other victims off the witness stand, certainly away from jurors. When Pressley says she expects the court to exonerate her client, she’s forgetting that Cosby settled out-of-court in 2004 with Constand for an undisclosed sum. While the settlement agreement blocked Constand from discussing the details, all bets are off in criminal court.
Regardless of the political machinations in Steele’s election as Montgomery County DA, Cosby’s got credibility problems, having settled out-of-court in 2004 on sexual harassment charges, without the DA filing criminal charges. Pressley can argue her client’s been placed in double jeopardy but that only applies to criminal cases. Since none were filed in 2004, the new criminal case stands on its own. If Montgomery County Judge Elizabeth McHugh allows a fraction of the numerous victims accusing Cosby of drugging and sexual assault, Pressley could find herself behind the Eight Ball. “We examined all the evidence and we made this determination because it was the right thing to do,” said Steele, rejecting Pressley’s charge that he’s politically grandstanding. Pressley would have to get McHugh to exclude the growing body of testimony corroborating Constand’s story of sexual assault.
Pressley filed a defamation suit Dec. 31 against seven of Cosby’s accusers, who filed a defamation suit against the comedian in 2014. Filed in Massachusetts by Traitz, Serignese and Green in 2014 on behalf to clients Bowman, Tarshis, Monitz and Leslie, Cosby faces a number of lawsuits seeking damages. Cosby’s recent counter-suit alleges “malicious, opportunistic, false and defamatory accusations of sexual misconduct against him,” refuting mounting claims by some 50 women that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted them. Responding to Cosby counter-suit, women’s rights Atty. Gloria Allred, who represents the civil suit against Cosby of Judy Huth, disputed Pressley’s legal maneuver. “Bill Cosby appears to be going to war against the women who have sued him in Massachusetts who allege he has victimized them . . ,” said Allred, not buying Pressley’s counter-suit.
Most of the women accusing Cosby of sexual assault tried to make it in the TV biz, at a time Cosby became a household name. Kaya Thomson, who claimed Cosby raped her in 1988, was an aspiring 17-year-old model. Heidi Thomas, a 24-year-old aspiring actress and model in 1984, sought “coaching” with Cosby when he drugged and sexually assaulted her. Beth Ferrier was in her early 20s trying to pursue an acting career when Cosby drugged and raped her in Denver. Patrica Steuer, an aspiring singer, was drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby 30-years ago in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Playboy centerfold and aspiring actress Victoria Valentino was drugged and molested by Cosby in the mid-60s. Cosby ran out the statute-of-limitations on all these women with out-of-court settlements, amounting to hush-money. Constand’s criminal action gave Cosby’s victims reason for hope.
Sexual assault, whether on college campuses or routinely performed on the entertainment industry’s so-called casting couch is more prevalent than once believed. Doubters often cite the lack of charges filed as proof that the sexual assaults never really took place. For women pursuing careers in entertainment, they often face blackballing and retaliation if they go public with sexual assault allegations. Cosby’s victims cry out for justice, despite Cosby’s attempt to run out the clock. “I just want him to stand up and tell the truth and take it like a man,” said Valentino, hoping that Constand’s criminal complaint would finally expose the comedian’s long-history of false imprisonment and sexual assault. “It’s really been a shock. I don’t think anyone of us expected that this was going to happen,” said Valentino, hoping that Constand’s criminal case finally exposes Cosby’s true story.
