Summary: Criminal assault charges have been filed against Bill Cosby just before the statute of limitations ran out from an incident nearly twelve years ago.
After years of allegations from dozens of women of sexual assault inflicted by Bill Cosby, the comedian actor has been criminally charged for the first time. While many of the allegations have passed the statute of limitations timeframe, this charge is related to an incident nearly twelve years ago.
The charge is a second degree felony of sexual assault from 2004. The statute of limitations would have expired in January. The three counts of indecent assault – assault without consent, assault when the complainant is unconscious or unaware that penetration is occurring, and assault when the person impairs the complainant – involved former Temple University employee Andrea Constand.
Constand had come forward a year after the incident but the prosecutors at the time declined to press charges against Cosby. Constand reached a private settlement amount with Cosby instead in civil court. She contends that Cosby had pursued her a couple times before that night but she had refused him. On the night of the incident, she had gone to his house to discuss her career and gather any advice she could from him. It was then that he drugged her and penetrated her with his finger.
Cosby has claimed the interaction was consensual since he never heard or felt a refusal from her. He entered a not guilty plea and was released on $1 million bail.
A judge will rule on whether or not testimony from other women can used during the trial to establish a pattern of behavior by Cosby but either way, his reputation has been tarnished, hurting his chances of receiving sympathy from a jury.
Photo: variety.com