Testimony from a previous lawsuit that Bill Cosby had fought to keep out of his upcoming sexual assault trial may be used against him, a Pennsylvania judge ruled Monday.
Montgomery CountyJudge Steven O’Neill granted prosecutors permission to present statements that Bill Cosby made during a 2005 deposition in which he admitted procuring drugs to give to women he desired to have sex with.
Through his lawyers, Cosby sought to block Montgomery County prosecutor Kevin Steele from using the deposition in the looming criminal case that alleges the former sitcom star drugged and molested a woman in his home. They argued that he’d only answered questions because the previous prosecutor, Bruce Castor, agreed Cosby wouldn’t be punished in criminal court for anything he said in the deposition.
Castor testified it was his intention to coerce Cosby to testify in the civil case by shielding him from criminal court, but O’Neill’s ruling found inconsistencies in the ex-district attorney’s statements.
“Because there was no promise, there can be no reliance on the part of the Defendant and the principles of fundamental fairness and due process have not been violated,” O’Neill wrote. “This court finds that there is no Constitutional barrier to the use of the Defendant’s civil deposition testimony.”
The Associated Press first reported about O’Neill’s ruling.
Cosby, now 79, awaits trial for the alleged aggravated indecent assault of Andrea Constand in his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004.
Constand, who worked for Temple University’s women’s basketball team, claimed that the former television star drugged and molested her after inviting her to his home to discuss her career.
Cosby claims the encounter was consensual, but during a deposition in Constand’s lawsuit against him, he also said that he got a supply of quaaludes that he intended to give young women. He also admitted having extramarital affairs.
The deposition was partially unsealed in 2015 following requests from The AP as dozens of women had come forward to accuse Cosby of sexual misconduct in cases going back to the 1960s.
Cosby’s attorneys declined to comment on O’Neill’s order, according to CNN.