TheCable

Steven O’Neill, a judge in the United States, has told Bill Cosby, popular television Comedian, that his trial on sexual assault charges will continue.

The judge explained that a prosecutor’s promise not to charge Cosby did not have the force of law.

On December 30, Cosby, 78 year-old, was charged in Philadelphia with three counts of aggravated indecent assault.

His lawyers had tried to have the felony charges dismissed, saying the former prosecutor who originally investigated the 11year-old case had sworn that the comedian would never be charged.

In his ruling, O’Neil refused to dismiss the case, saying his decision was based on “credibility determinations,”.

He also rejected a defence request to dismiss the current prosecutor from the case.

Cosby is charged with drugging and raping former Temple University employee Andrea Constand in January 2004 at his home outside Philadelphia.

According to police reports cited in court documents, Cosby has said the encounter was consensual.

If convicted, Cosby would face 5 to 10 years in prison.

The case is the first criminal prosecution Cosby has faced amid dozens of accusations of sexual assault by more than 50 women.

Most of the alleged incidents date back decades and fall outside legal time limits for prosecution.

Constand originally went to police in January 2005, a year after the alleged assault.

However, the prosecutors declined to file charges against the television star because of concerns the case would fall apart in court, former prosecutor Bruce Castor told the court.

Castor said he promised Cosby immunity from future prosecution to encourage him to testify in a 2005 civil suit filed by Constand.

Cosby however did not testify, and the case was settled out of court, Castor said.

But Cosby’s testimony came back to haunt him, when a judge in July made public a legal brief that contained excerpts in which he admitted buying Quaaludes, a sedative, to use on women for sex.

Kevin Steele, the current prosecutor, cited the testimony as a reason he reopened the investigation in Constand’s case.

Cosby was formally charged on December 30.

His lawyers had argued that Kevin Steele’s decision to prosecute the case was political and stemmed from public promises he made during a successful election campaign in 2015.

They can appeal the court’s decision, and may seek to have the deposition in the civil suit barred from evidence in this case.