Time is ticking away for Bill Cosby as his criminal trial on sexual assault allegations draws nearer. But Cosby is not going down without a fight and once again called for a dismissal of charges. This time, Cosby’s legal team is claiming that the charges should be dropped because the evidence is “hearsay.”
According to new court documents submitted yesterday, Cosby’s legal team is claiming that his constitutional rights were violated by prosecutors when they presented testimony from the alleged victim without allowing her to be cross-examined. Based on this evidence Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele allowed the criminal trial to go forward. The motion states in part “”The commonwealth failed to provide any justification for Ms. Constand’s absence, much less sufficient good cause to overcome Mr. Cosby’s due process rights to cross examine her. … We look forward to the court righting this wrong by providing the relief requested.”
Hearsay testimony is defined by the Federal Rules of Evidence as “a “statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.” In Cosby’s case, sworn testimony that Constand gave in 2005 as well as Cosby’s response was used to reopen the sexual assault case against the comedian. He is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Constand when she was an employee at Temple University in 2004. The incident allegedly occurred at Cosby’s Philadelphia mansion and he stated that the encounter was consensual, a claim that Constand denied.
Since the case was reopened dozens of women have come forward claiming that they were assaulted by the megastar comedian. Testimony from Cosby in sworn court depositions were unsealed and revealed a side of Cosby that shocked his many fans. By Cosby’s own admission, he engaged in multiple affairs and regularly used the drug Quaalude on women for many years. He has claimed that all of the encounters were consensual, an assertion dozens of women have denied..
