Post by Logan on Jun 9, 2016 0:11:48 GMT -6
Taking a step they had telegraphed, Bill Cosby's lawyers moved Wednesday to have the sexual assault case against him dismissed because prosecutors failed to present his accuser, Andrea Constand, at his preliminary hearing last month.
By relying on detectives to testify and read Constand's 2005 statements to police instead of calling her to the witness stand, prosecutors denied Cosby "an opportunity to confront and cross-examine his accuser," the defense team wrote in a bid to have the charges dropped or receive a new preliminary hearing.
"The district attorney's win-at-all-costs tactics in this matter are stretching the rules past the breaking point," Cosby's defense team wrote.
In introducing only her past statements to police as evidence, prosecutors relied on a relatively new option in state law, one that is being challenged in higher courts. Even as she allowed them to do so, District Judge Elizabeth McHugh called it a "risky" move.
Read more at www.philly.com/philly/news/20160609_Cosby_lawyers_make_new_bid_to_dismiss_case.html
By relying on detectives to testify and read Constand's 2005 statements to police instead of calling her to the witness stand, prosecutors denied Cosby "an opportunity to confront and cross-examine his accuser," the defense team wrote in a bid to have the charges dropped or receive a new preliminary hearing.
"The district attorney's win-at-all-costs tactics in this matter are stretching the rules past the breaking point," Cosby's defense team wrote.
In introducing only her past statements to police as evidence, prosecutors relied on a relatively new option in state law, one that is being challenged in higher courts. Even as she allowed them to do so, District Judge Elizabeth McHugh called it a "risky" move.
Read more at www.philly.com/philly/news/20160609_Cosby_lawyers_make_new_bid_to_dismiss_case.html