Judge bars Cosby from depositions of accuser, DA who charged him

A federal judge Monday blocked Bill Cosby's bid to sit in on depositions of accuser Andrea Constand and the former Montgomery County district attorney who filed sexual assault charges against him last year.

U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno said the 79-year-old entertainer could not use their testimony in a separate civil case to seek information that would help his criminal defense.

"Cosby is incorrect," the judge wrote in a 16-page opinion, "that there is nothing under the law to prevent him from using this civil case to obtain discovery for his state criminal case."

Robreno entered the order Monday in a defamation suit Constand filed last fall against Bruce L. Castor Jr., the former Montgomery County district attorney who opted not to prosecute Cosby based on allegations Constand first made more than a decade ago.

But the federal judge's ruling also highlights the tangled thicket of interests and motivations at play in a series of suits, countersuits, and accusations that have sprung up alongside his criminal case.

Constand's allegations have passed through three district attorneys in the 10 years between her first complaint to police in 2005 and the day last year when Cosby was criminally charged with drugging and assaulting her at his Cheltenham home in 2004. In addition to the criminal case, Cosby faces defamation suits from a number of women in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and California.

At a hearing on Constand's defamation suit against Castor last month, no fewer than nine attorneys advocating on behalf of five clients weighed in on Cosby's request to sit in on her deposition and that of Risa Vetri Ferman, Castor's successor as Montgomery County's top prosecutor, who filed the criminal case against Cosby weeks before she left office last year to become a county judge.

Cosby's attorneys argued that they had a right to actively participate in Ferman's deposition - an argument challenged by Montgomery County prosecutors under District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, who is currently handling the criminal case.

Steele's office accused Cosby of attempting to hijack Constand's civil suit and gain improper insight into its strategy before his trial.

Ferman, too, objected to Cosby's presence and sought an order that would block both Cosby and Constand from asking questions that involved the ongoing investigation or her decision making in run-up to Cosby's arrest.

Robreno on Monday agreed that Cosby had no right to sit in on Ferman's deposition, but declined to make a decision in advance on what questions Ferman should or should not be allowed to answer.

He said if he would handle on a case-by-case basis any objections Ferman had to specific questions asked by Constand's or Castor's attorneys.

Cosby also sought a seat at the table in Constand's deposition, arguing that he had a right to make sure she did not violate a confidentiality agreement they both signed in 2006 that precluded either from discussing her sexual assault allegations against him.

The pact came as a result of an undisclosed financial settlement Cosby paid her that year to end a civil suit she filed once Castor had decided not to bring criminal charges.

But Constand's lawyers balked at Cosby's request to sit in on her deposition in her suit against Castor and accused the entertainer of attempting to intimidate her before her testimony in his criminal trial.

Robreno, in his ruling Monday, acknowledged that Cosby had interest in protecting his confidentiality agreement with Constand, but refused to allow him to appear at the deposition.

Instead, the judge agreed to let Cosby review a transcript of her testimony after the deposition and object to any questions or answers he believes violate their 2006 agreement prior to their use in her case against Castor.

Constand has alleged that Castor made false statements about her for political gain as he ran to reclaim his post as district attorney last year. Castor described her defamation claims as an attempt to influence the race after his decision not to prosecute Cosby in 2005 became a central campaign issue pushed by Steele, the race's eventual victor.

Cosby is set to stand trial on charges of aggravated indecent assault in June.

jroebuck@phillynews.com

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