Cosby Camp Reacts To Radar Report: ‘Very Disturbing’ Details Could Dismiss Case
Bill Cosby's camp says "very disturbing" details exposed exclusively by RadarOnline.com surrounding Judge Steven T. O’Neill's secret relationship with a key witness's employee could force the shamed comedian's case to be dismissed.
“This is my first time hearing of these alleged accounts regarding Judge O’Neill, the story is very interesting and if true, very disturbing," Cosby's rep, Andrew V. Wyatt, told RadarOnline.com exclusively. "Furthermore, Mr. Cosby maintains that he’s innocent of these charges.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported exclusively, Cosby's sex assault retrial was shook with accusations the judge on the case had a blow out fight with a key witness arising from allegations of a close relationship he had with that witness’s employee from 1998 and 1999 — a young lawyer named Maureen Coggins.
Coggins was an assistant district attorney working under Bruce L. Castor Jr., the former district attorney who notoriously declined to press charges against Cosby in 2005.
Prosecutors want Judge O’Neill to exclude Castor as a witness and from telling the jury why he declined to prosecute the actor in 2005, citing a lack of “reliable and admissible” evidence.
Meanwhile, sources close to Cosby told RadarOnline.com, "The information in the RadarOnline.com about Judge Steven O'Neill was previously unknown to Mr. Cosby or his lawyers. Cosby's legal team is going to need time to do their own research and his lawyers are currently reviewing the information in the RadarOnline.com story."
As readers know, District Attorney, Kevin R. Steele, argued in recent court papers that the opinion of Castor is not relevant and should not be presented to a jury by the defense team.
“There is simply no legitimate, relevant purpose to presenting evidence of Castor’s publicly-stated reasons for declining prosecution, which centered on his alleged opinions about the admissibility and credibility of the evidence. His opinions on those subjects are not remotely relevant,” Steele wrote in court papers.
“Such evidence and argument can only be used to confuse the issues and mislead the jury, as the defense attempted to do at the first trial,” Steele added.
But Judge O'Neill will be the one who will make the decision on whether to keep Castor’s opinion out of the trial and could be forced to make that call as early as tomorrow (Thursday) when the final round of pretrial hearings before jury selection begins on April 2.
Added the informant: "All options are on the table at this point and this revelation has definitely completely upended the trial. These are very serious allegations and go to the basis of whether or not Mr. Cosby can indeed get a fair trial. It goes beyond having the judge removed from the case. What did prosecutors know about this and when did they know?
"The entire case against Mr. Cosby could be dismissed because of RadarOnline.com's story."
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