NORRISTOWN >> Entertainer Bill Cosby has asked a judge for more time to find a new lawyer for his sex assault trial as another member of his legal team requests to withdraw from the case, according to court papers.
“Defendant continues to take necessary steps to secure new counsel,” defense lawyer Angela C. Agrusa wrote in court papers filed Tuesday in which she asked a Montgomery County judge to allow her to withdraw as Cosby’s lawyer.
Agrusa added that “given factors outside of defendant’s control,” including but not limited to the availability of prospective counsel due to summer schedules and existing trial schedules and the “particularities of this high-profile and sensational matter,” Cosby requires additional time in order to secure representation for his scheduled Nov. 6 retrial.
Agrusa asked Judge Steven T. O’Neill to give Cosby until Sept. 11 to retain a new lawyer and asked the judge to delay a previously scheduled Aug. 22 pretrial hearing.
O’Neill has not yet ruled on the latest request.
Agrusa’s request to withdraw from Cosby’s legal team comes two weeks after lead defense lawyer Brian J. McMonagle filed papers seeking to withdraw from the case. At that time, McMonagle, of Philadelphia, said Cosby was taking steps to secure new lawyers.
The judge has scheduled an Aug. 22 hearing to consider McMonagle’s request and to address any other pretrial issues. It’s unclear if O’Neill will grant Agrusa’s request to delay that hearing until Sept. 11.
Prosecutors oppose any delay.”The Commonwealth objects to defendant’s request to continue his pretrial conference and further delay the timely administration of justice in this matter,” Assistant District Attorney M. Stewart Ryan wrote in court papers.
William Henry Cosby Jr., as his name appears on charging documents, faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault in connection with allegations he had inappropriate sexual contact with Andrea Constand, a former Temple University athletic department employee, at his Cheltenham home after plying her with blue pills and wine sometime between mid-January and mid-February 2004. Cosby, 80, maintains his contact with Constand was consensual.
After hearing five days of testimony at a trial in June, a jury of seven men and five women selected in Allegheny County told a judge it was hopelessly deadlocked “on all counts” after deliberating more than 52 hours over six days.
O’Neill declared a mistrial and District Attorney Kevin R. Steele immediately informed the judge he would retry Cosby. O’Neill scheduled the retrial for Nov. 6.
Cosby remains free on 10 percent of $1 million bail, pending the retrial. Cosby faces a possible maximum sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison if convicted of the charges.
During the June trial, prosecutors alleged Cosby was a trusted friend and mentor who took advantage of a woman in a “vulnerable state,” plied Constand with “three blue pills” and sexually assaulted her at his Cheltenham mansion in mid-January 2004.
Constand, 44, of Ontario, Canada, testified over two days that after taking the blue pills she began slurring her words and became “frozen” or paralyzed and was unable to fight off Cosby’s sexual advances. Constand claimed Cosby placed her on a couch, touched her breasts, forced her to touch his penis and performed digital penetration all without her consent.
But McMonagle and Agrusa argued Cosby was the victim of false accusations and that the entertainer and Constand had a “romantic relationship” and consensual sexual contact during the 2004 incident. At one point during the trial, McMonagle stood beside Cosby and suggested to jurors that while Cosby may have been an unfaithful husband, that didn’t make him a criminal.
The 11-day trial came at a high cost for the county. When county officials completed their calculation of the Cosby trial expenses last month, they indicated the cost of the trial reached $219,100. The trial that began June 5 was the highest-profile case to ever play out in a county courtroom and attracted worldwide attention.
