Cliff Huxtable is going to trial on sex assault charges.
Bill Cosby may very well have had a deal with former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor. In fact, Castor took the stand at a hearing in Montgomery County Court and said exactly that. Castor argued he did not think he could win the case involving the charges being lodged against the famous comedian by a former female employee at Temple University, so he made the deal that he believed would force Cosby to answer questions in a deposition in a civil case Andrea Constand brought against him.
But he offered his word that the information Cosby divulged would never be used against him, and that Cosby would never be charged criminally.
"Mr. Cosby was not getting prosecuted ever, as far as I was concerned," Castor told the court.
Castor argued he alone had the 'sovereign' power to make such an offer.
Yesterday a Montgomery County judge disagreed, rejecting Cosby's request that the assault charges against him be dismissed because of that promise from Castor.
Judge Steven T. O'Neill then handed the Cosby legal team a second setback, ruling against a request to have current Montco D.A. disqualified from the case because of a campaign ad used in the fall election - in which Steele beat Castor - suggesting a promise to prosecute Cosby.
You can get all the details on the rulings here.
No doubt the Cosby team will appeal.
"There was a promise made 11 or 12 years ago upon which (Cosby) has relied and that sovereign that made that promise is obligated to live up to it. When a prosecutor gives his or her word, that something that's enforceable," Cosby lawyer Christopher Tayback said.
O'Neill didn't see it that way.
Andrea Constand was the first to allege improper sexual advances from Cosby. She was not the last. Dozens of women have come forward to say he took advantage of them as well. This is the first time the 78-year-old Cosby has faced criminal charges.
In that now-infamous deposition, Cosby admitted he obtained Quaaludes to give to women with whom he hoped to have sex.
Cosby now appears just a shell of the man welcomed into our homes every week as everyone's favorite dad, Dr. Cliff Huxtable.
He appears frail, shuffling in and out of court, leaning on his lawyers for support.
Yesterday he waved and acknowledged those who yelled support for him as he entered and exited court.
The image Cosby perfected is long gone. What's left is a man looking for a legal way out of his actions. Cosby contends the sex was consensual.
He settled the civil suit filed against him by Constand.
He thought he had a get our of jail card against any criminal charges through that deal with Castor.
Yesterday that deal, which apparently was never put down on paper, disappeared.
The criminal case against Bill Cosby will go forward.
Cliff Huxtable will go on trial on sex assault charges.
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