Hearings In Cosby Sex Assault Case Adjourned With No Ruling
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- Two days of hearings on pre-trial motions in the sexual assault case against entertainer Bill Cosby have wrapped up in Montgomery County.
Cosby is asking charges be thrown out because of the decade-plus delay between allegations and charges. His attorneys are also asking a 2005 civil deposition be suppressed.
Cosby's defense says by waiting more than a decade the commonwealth gained numerous advantages, including fading eyesight that prevents the 79-year-old Cosby from participating in his own defense.
"We have maintained from the beginning that Mr. Cosby's rights have been violated in any number of ways," said defense attorney Brian McMonigle.
But prosecutors argue they didn't file charges for 11 years because Bill Cosby himself had worked to keep his civil deposition sealed. Once that was unsealed, prosecutors learned details that led them to re-open the investigation and eventually file charges.
The two sides also started arguments on whether or not prosecutors can put 13 women on the stand who've raised similar allegations against Cosby.
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele angrily accused the defense of trying to intimidate the potential witnesses, saying some of the women they're requesting to put on the stand have not come out publicly, yet the defense listed the names in their motion.
"We have real victims out there and they're going through a lot with this," Steele said, "and I hope everyone understands the difficulties that they are all having."
The incidents the women allege happened range from the late 1960's to the early 1990's, and McMonigle says it's almost impossible for them to defend with a lack of specifics and so much time having passed.
Two days of hearings on the matter are scheduled for December.
