Former Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, district attorney Bruce Castor testified at a pre-trial hearing in a criminal case against Bill Cosby on Tuesday, saying that he perceived a “credibility issue” with the comedian’s accuser Andrea Constand.
“The behavior detailed within (police interviews) was inconsistent with a person who had been sexually assaulted,” Castor said in court on Tuesday, USA Today reports. “Her actions, on her own, including going to a lawyer before going to police, had created a credibility issue for her that could never be improved upon.”
Cosby is attempting to have the case against him dropped. His legal team claims that Castor agreed not to pursue a criminal case against the scandal-plagued star when the case initially came to his attention more than a decade ago. Castor seemed to back up that assertion in court on Tuesday, saying, “Mr. Cosby was not getting prosecuted, at all, ever, as far as I was concerned,” according to CNN.
On cross-examination, Castor did allow that he believed Cosby “inappropriately touched” Constand, but proving so was another matter.
“What I think is that Andrea Constand was inappropriately touched by Mr. Cosby,” Castor told the court. “I am not analyzing back in 2005 as to what I think. I am analyzing it back in 2005 as to what I can prove.”
Constand, a former Temple University employee, claims Cosby drugged and molested her in his Pennsylvania home in 2004. After Castor declined to pursue criminal charges, Constand filed suit against Cosby in 2005, later settling with him.
However, in December Cosby was charged with aggravated indecent assault against Constand. Current Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, who was elected to the position last year, made the Cosby case a prominent part of his campaign. Cosby’s attorneys have asked for the case to be removed or, alternatively, to have Steele removed from the case.
Cosby has been accused of rape or sexual assault by dozens of women, many of whom claim he drugged them beforehand. Numerous lawsuits have been filed against the comedian. Cosby has denied the allegations, and in some cases sued his accusers for defamation.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney said earlier this month that it would not be pursuing criminal charges against Cosby based on the accusations of two of his accusers. On Tuesday, model Chloe Goins voluntarily dismissed her lawsuit against the “Cosby Show” star. Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents multiple Cosby accusers, is appearing in court in Los Angeles on Tuesday in an attempt to compel a second deposition from Cosby in a lawsuit brought by accuser Judy Huth. According to a motion filed by Huth, Cosby refused to answer certain questions during his first deposition in October.