Bill Cosby seeking defense lawyer for criminal probe
Comedian Bill Cosby is seeking to hire a criminal
defense lawyer as suburban prosecutors revisit
a 2005 sexual-assault complaint against him.
Lawyer Edwin Jacobs said late Tuesday that
Cosby's agents had contacted him in the past
few days about a pending investigation in
Montgomery County. Jacobs, who had
represented Cosby in a review of another
accuser's complaint in New Jersey, said he
referred Cosby's agents to another high-profile
Philadelphia-area lawyer.
That other lawyer did not return message
seeking comment late Tuesday. The Philadelphia
Inquirer first reported Tuesday on Jacobs'
involvement in the case.
Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri
Ferman wouldn't confirm her office is
reinvestigating the complaint by former Temple
University employee Andrea Constand.
However, she said in a recent statement
"prosecutors have a responsibility to review
past conclusions ... when current information
might lead to a different decision."
Ferman's predecessor, Bruce Castor, didn't think
the evidence was sufficient to charge Cosby with
a crime in 2005. Since then, dozens of women
have accused the "I Spy" actor of drugging and
molesting them, echoing the accusations
Constand first made public with her January
2005 complaint to police and her later civil
lawsuit.
In the civil suit, Constand said she had met
Cosby through her job with the women's
basketball program at Temple, where Cosby
served on the board of trustees. She said he
befriended and mentored her. But, in a January
2004 visit to his Cheltenham home, she said, he
gave her three pills for stress and she later
woke up with her clothes askew.
Cosby, in a sworn deposition released this year,
acknowledged he had sexual contact with
Constand that night but said it was consensual.
Constand's lawyer said Constand would
cooperate in the new investigation if asked.
Prosecutors in Pennsylvania typically have 12
years to bring a felony sexual assault case
before the court, which means the clock is
ticking toward a potential January deadline.
"She's a very strong lady," lawyer Dolores
Troiani said Tuesday. "She'll do whatever they
request of her."
Troiani would not comment on whether
Constand had been contacted by authorities this
year. She and Constand can't comment on the
case as part of a confidentiality agreement that
settled the case before trial.
The settlement came after Cosby, who is 78
years old and has been married for decades,
gave a lengthy deposition in the case.
Documents unsealed in June by the presiding
judge, along with the deposition later released
by a court reporting service, show Cosby
admitted having a series of extramarital
relationships with women, including some of
those who now accuse him of sexual assault.
He also said he had obtained quaaludes in the
1970s to give to women with whom he hoped to
have sex, "the same as a person would say,
'Have a drink.'"
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