NORRISTOWN >> Entertainer Bill Cosby doesn’t want a jury to know anything about the October 2006 civil settlement he negotiated with Andrea Constand, the woman who accused him of the sexual assault for which he faces a criminal trial in June.
“Mr. Cosby respectfully requests that the court exclude all testimony, documentary evidence, comment, reference or inference regarding the settlement agreement or the negotiation of the settlement agreement,” defense lawyers Brian J. McMonagle and Angela C. Agrusa wrote in papers filed in Montgomery County Court on Thursday.
“Any marginal probative value of the settlement agreement might have it clearly outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice that will result from the risk that a jury will view the settlement agreement as a confession of liability and guilt,” McMonagle and Agrusa added.
McMonagle and Agrusa argued there’s a “risk that its admission would only confuse the jury and be unfairly prejudicial.”
The defense request regarding the confidential civil settlement might be addressed next Monday when county Judge Steven T. O’Neill holds a hearing on several remaining pretrial issues. Cosby, 79, faces a June 5 trial on charges of aggravated indecent assault in connection with his alleged contact with Constand, a former Temple University athletic department employee, after plying her with blue pills and wine at his Cheltenham home sometime between mid-January and mid-February 2004.
On March 8, 2005, Constand filed a civil suit against Cosby in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, alleging, among other things, “claims for battery, sexual assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress” based upon the same alleged sexual encounter that became the subject of the criminal charges filed against Cosby in December 2015, according to court documents.
The civil suit was filed three weeks after former county District Attorney Bruce L Castor Jr. issued a Feb. 17, 2005, press release confirming his office had declined to file criminal charges against Cosby.
The civil suit was subsequently resolved in October 2006 for an undisclosed amount, according to court papers. The settlement agreement also resolved a separate action brought by Constand against publishers of The National Enquirer and in November 2006, as part of the settlement, Constand dismissed both actions, defense lawyers said.
Cosby was deposed in connection with the lawsuit over four days in September 2005 and March 2006, court documents indicate.
Current District Attorney Kevin R. Steele reopened the criminal investigation in July 2015 after portions of Cosby’s deposition connected to the civil suit were unsealed by a federal judge and his alleged damaging testimony was exposed.
In that deposition, Cosby, according to court documents, admitted that in the past he obtained Quaaludes to give to women with whom he wanted to have sex. Prosecutors contend Cosby also admitted for the first time to developing a romantic interest in Constand when he saw her at a Temple basketball game and to having sexual contact with Constand.
Prosecutors subsequently filed criminal charges against Cosby on Dec. 30, 2015, before the 12-year statute of limitations to file charges expired.
In a previous ruling, O’Neill said Cosby’s civil deposition testimony can be heard by the jury from Allegheny County that will weigh Cosby’s fate this summer. The judge denied Cosby’s request to prevent prosecutors from using the testimony as trial evidence.
Cosby has suggested the contact he had with Constand was consensual.
McMonagle unsuccessfully had argued that Cosby relied on a so-called 2005 “non-prosecution promise” provided by Castor when he agreed to testify in the civil suit brought by Constand and that any evidence derived from his deposition could not be used against him.
But Steele and co-prosecutors M. Stewart Ryan and Kristen Feden argued there was no previous, valid non-prosecution promise and that Castor did not promise Cosby that he would never be prosecuted.
The case represents the first time Cosby, who played Dr. Cliff Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” from 1984 to 1992, has been charged with a crime despite allegations from dozens of women who claimed they were assaulted by the entertainer.
If convicted of the charges at trial, William Henry Cosby Jr., as his name appears on charging documents, faces a possible maximum sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison. He remains free on 10 percent of $1 million bail, pending trial.
The newspaper does not normally identify victims of sex crimes without their consent but is using Constand’s name because she has identified herself publicly.
