Former DA: Cosby shielded from prosecution

(2 Feb 2016) The former district attorney who declined a decade ago to bring sex-crime charges against Bill Cosby testified on Tuesday that he believes his decision is binding on his successors and forever closes the door on prosecuting the comedian.

Former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor took the stand as part of a bid by Cosby's lawyers to get the case thrown out because of what they say is a decade-old non-prosecution agreement from Castor.

The current district attorney has said there is no record of any such agreement.

Analyst David Walker told The Associated Press that the defence landed "body blow after body blow" on Tuesday.

Cosby, 78, was arrested and charged in December with drugging and violating former Temple University athletic department employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004. He could get up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Castor said Tuesday that he found serious flaws in the case in 2005 and declined to bring charges.

He said that he made the decision as a representative of the state - as "the sovereign," as he put it, over and over - and that it would last in perpetuity.



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