Kevin Spacey and Steven Seagal won’t face sex crimes charges from the Los Angeles County District Attorney due to statute of limitations on the decades-old accusations but over in Pennsylvania at the upcoming sentencing hearing for Bill Cosby, the past looks to become part of the present.
On the same day that the much-accused actor’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was vandalized again, Cosby faces a move from the Montgomery County D.A. to have a chorus of accusers damningly come to court to detail their experiences with the man and crimes he may have committed to them.
“The Commonwealth intends to present numerous witnesses who will testify that defendant sexually abused them, says a motion submitted on Tuesday by the office of Kevin Steele before the sentencing hearing set to start on September 24 and run for up to two days. “As discussed below, they will provide testimony relevant to the proper assessment of defendant’s character, background, dangerousness to the community, and rehabilitative needs,” the potentially pivotal filing declares (read it here).
“This relevant information may include uncharged criminal conduct, even if it involved a different victim and did not result in conviction,” the four-page filing adds with implications that could further the tainting of Cosby, who was found guilty in late April in a retrial on on three counts of aggravated indecent assault against former Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004.
“The victims’ in-court, live testimony will provide the ‘necessary evidentiary link between the defendant and the uncharged prior conduct,’” the paperwork says, not specifying exactly how many of the more than 60 women who have claimed Cosby drugged and raped them will actually be brought into court. In the retrial, ex-America’s Next Top Model judge Janice Dickinson and four other women besides Constead were allowed to testify on what they said Cosby did to them.
“The District Attorney’s latest Motion is another publicity stunt, not supported by ANY existing Pennsylvania law,” representatives for Cosby said in a statement today. “We expect to respond to this Motion and present our arguments in Court.”
Already essentially under house arrest and with new-ish lawyers again, the 81-year old Cosby is looking at decades behind bars based on the conviction. The hearing in Judge Stephen O’Neill’s Norristown courtroom later this month is likely to include arguments on whether Cosby should be designated as a sexually violent predator, which the Keystone State’s Sexual Offenders Assessment Board recommended this summer.
Out in L.A. early this morning, at least one member of the public believes Cosby is “serial rapist,” which they scrawled on his Hollywood Blvd. star in the pre-dawn hours. Now well versed in such attacks upon Cosby’s star as well as that of Donald Trump, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce had the words removed quickly and the LAPD are checking security cameras in the area to get more information on possible suspects.
Sunk into the sidewalk in the heart of Hollywood back in 1977, Cosby’s star has been defaced several times in recent years since allegations of his apparent decades of sexual misconduct against dozens and dozens of women have become public.
If Judge O’Neill allows the Montgomery D.A.’s motion, Cosby and his accusers will find themselves mere feet away from each other, as the actor has to be in court for the sentencing hearing.
Source: Deadline
