PHILADELPHIA, PA (CelebrityAccess) — Bill Cosby is reportedly seeking to hire a criminal defense lawyer as prosecutors in Pennsylvania reexamine a 2005 sexual assault complaint lodged against the comedian.
According to the Associated Press, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman declined to confirm that her office had reopened the complaint brought against Cosby by former Temple University employee Andrea Constand, however, she recently discussed her view that prosecutors have a responsibility to review past conclusions, when "current information might lead to a different decision."
Constand alleged in a civil suit that she had met Cosby through her job with the Temple women's basketball program and became friendly with him. She alleges that during a visit to his home in January, 2004, Cosby provided her with 3 pills for stress and she later awoke to find her clothes askew.
In a deposition for the civil suit Cosby acknowledged that sexual relations between himself and Constand had occured but claimed that it was consensual.
Bruce Castor, who served as the county's prosecutor at the time of the complaint, viewed the evidence at the time as insufficient to proceed with a criminal prosecution agaisnt Cosby. Castor, last week, claimed that Constand had made more serious charges in her civil suit than she had to police when making her initial report.
"If the allegations in the civil complaint were contained with that detail in her statement to the police, we might have been able to make a case out of it," said Castor, who currently serves as a county commissioner and who is seeking another term as district attorney. – Staff Writers
