The work of Bill Cosby's defense team became a lot more difficult today as a judge denied a request by the comedian's lawyers to keep the deposition from Cosby's decade-old civil case, in which he was sued by Andrea Constand over an alleged rape, out of court during his current case, where he's criminally charged with assaulting Constand.
As Deadline reported, the deposition, in which Cosby, now 79, admitted to giving women drugs before having sex with them, can be used in court during the criminal case, in which Cosby is facing as much as 10 years if convicted of the aggravated indecent assault.
Cosby's lawyers had said the deposition, which was first published by the Associated Press earlier this year, should not be used in the current case because of a deal made in 2005 where the district attorney had promised not to prosecute Cosby on criminal charges. Because of that supposed promise, Cosby's lawyers argued, their client waived his fifth amendment rights and answered questions during the deposition.
"This court concludes that there was neither an agreement nor a promise not to prosecute, only an exercise of prosecutorial discretion ... based upon the arguments of counsel and the evidence adduced, the Defendant's Motion to Suppress is hereby DENIED in its entirety," Judge Steven O'Neill said in the ruling.
Cosby's trial is set to begin in June of 2017. In October, Cosby's lawyers said that their client is legally blind and unable to identify his accusers. Since 2015, more than 60 women altogether have come forward to accuse Cosby of sexual assault.
