Bill Cosby‘s criminal case will go forward.
A judge refused to toss out a criminal charge brought against the scandal-plagued comedian on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, court system told TheWrap.
A spokesperson for Cosby’s legal team told TheWrap, “The attorneys will appeal.”
Cosby was charged with aggravated indecent assault in December. The charges stem from accusations made by former Temple University employee Andrea Constand, who claims Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in his Pennsylvania home in 2004. After former Montgomery County Pennsylvania district attorney Bruce Castor declined to pursue criminal charges, Constand filed suit against Cosby in 2005, later settling with him.
Current Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, district attorney Kevin Steele made the Cosby case a prominent part of his campaign for the office last year.
Cosby’s team had argued that the case should be tossed, maintaining that there was an agreement with Castor that the comedian wouldn’t be prosecuted.
As an alternative to having the case thrown out, Cosby’s legal team had sought to have the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office removed from the case. The judge in the case, Steven T. O’Neill, has not yet ruled on that request.
On Tuesday, Castor testified, “Mr. Cosby was not getting prosecuted, at all, ever, as far as I was concerned,”
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.”
On Wednesday, as the hearing continued, current Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele contended that, if a deal to not prosecute had been reached, it “isn’t right,” USA Today reports.
“A secret agreement that permits a wealthy defendant to buy his way out of a criminal case isn’t right,” Steele said.
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.