Bill Cosby charged with felony sexual assault in Pennsylvania

[NORRISTOWN] Comedian Bill Cosby was charged on Wednesday with sexually assaulting a woman in 2004 after plying her with drugs and alcohol, marking the only criminal case against a once-beloved performer whose father-figure persona was damaged by dozens of misconduct accusations.

Mr Cosby, 78, walking with a cane and accompanied by two lawyers, appeared for his arraignment hours later at a courthouse in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, just outside Philadelphia, where he posted a US$1 million bond, turned over his passport and was ordered to avoid any contact with his accuser.

Smiling and politely thanking District Court Judge Elizabeth McHugh at the end of the brief proceeding, Mr Cosby left the courthouse and was driven to a nearby police precinct to be finger-printed and booked.

He emerged from the police station 10 minutes later and was whisked away in the same black sport utility vehicle that had delivered him to the courthouse. He made no statements as a throng of reporters shouted questions at him.

The case against Mr Cosby was filed just before the statute of limitations deadline for a criminal prosecution was due to lapse in January. The charge stems from allegations leveled by Andrea Ms Constand, who settled a civil case against Mr Cosby for an undisclosed sum in 2006.

"Today, after examination of all the evidence, we are able to seek justice on behalf of the victim," Kevin Steele, the newly elected district attorney for Montgomery County, told an earlier news conference. Steele made a campaign issue of his intent to prosecute Mr Cosby.

Ms Constand, a former basketball team manager at Temple University in Philadelphia, Mr Cosby's alma mater, is one of more than 50 women who have publicly accused the star of sexually assaulting them in incidents dating back decades.

Mr Cosby has not entered a plea in Wednesday's case. But he and his lawyers, while acknowledging marital infidelity on his part, have consistently denied any allegations of sexual misconduct.

His legal team issued a statement late on Wednesday calling the charge "unjustified," adding, "we expect that Mr. Mr Cosby will be exonerated by a court of law."

The statement also said the prosecution came as no surprise given that it followed a "hotly contested" election for district attorney in which "this case was made the focal point."

Mr Cosby, who personified the model American family man in his long-running hit television show, was charged with aggravated indecent assault, a second-degree felony carrying a maximum penalty of 5 to 10 years in prison and a US$25,000 fine.

'VICTIM DID NOT CONSENT'

According to an affidavit accompanying the charge, the victim was a guest at Mr Cosby's home in Cheltenham near Philadelphia one evening in January 2004, when he gave her wine and urged her to take three blue pills, prosecutors said in a statement.

When questioned by police as to whether he had sex with Ms Constand, Mr Cosby, according to the charging documents, answered, "never asleep or awake." The statement appeared to be at odds with Mr Cosby's sworn deposition in the civil case that they had consensual sexual contact.

Steele said the case was brought after new information came to light this year, adding that the victim was willing to cooperate.

Ms Constand declined to speak to reporters gathered outside her home in Toronto. Her lawyer, Dolores Troiani, issued a statement thanking the district attorney's office, adding, "In that this matter is now being pursued in the criminal justice system, we will not comment further."

"In Pennsylvania, there is now a journey to justice, said Gloria Allred, a lawyer who has represented 29 of Mr Cosby's accusers, said at a news conference in Los Angeles.

She said many of her clients, some of whom have brought civil actions of their own against Mr Cosby, would be willing to testify against him if the criminal case reaches trial. "Probably it is going to be the highest-profile criminal case in this country, at least involving a celebrity," she said.

The accusations have shocked Mr Cosby's fans and crushed his reputation as an entertainer and father figure. Many occurred decades ago, and the statute of limitations for prosecuting them has long expired.

A portion of a sworn deposition by Mr Cosby in 2005-2006 in the civil suit brought by Ms Constand was made public earlier this year. In it, Mr Cosby acknowledged under questioning that he had obtained Quaaludes, a sedative that was a popular recreational drug in the 1970s, intending to give them to young women in order to have sex with them.

"EVASIVE AND CONFLICTING"

About his encounter with Ms Constand, Mr Cosby said under oath that it was consensual and that he gave her some Benadryl, an anti-allergy medication, to relax her.

Prosecutors in court documents cited Mr Cosby's "evasive and conflicting identifications of the drug he gave the victim" as a key factor in their decision to charge him.

Ms Constand, who has sought in court to unseal the record of her civil case and settlement with Mr Cosby, said in legal documents filed in July that she is a lesbian, despite his sworn assertions that their encounter was consensual and that he has a knack for reading women's cues. "I think that I'm a pretty decent reader of people and their emotions in these romantic sexual things, whatever you want to call them," he said in the excerpt, published by The New York Times.

Mr Cosby has stressed through his attorneys and in court filings that the deposition excerpts contained no testimony that he engaged in any non-consensual sex or gave Quaaludes to anyone without their knowledge or consent.

Earlier this month, Mr Cosby sued seven of his accusers, saying the women who said they were assaulted were lying and had defamed his "honorable legacy and reputation." The actor is best known for playing Dr. Cliff Huxtable, the family patriarch in the TV sitcom "The Mr Cosby Show," one of the country's highest-rated television shows in the 1980s.

REUTERS