Prosecutor Argues Against Bill Cosby's Attempt To Delay Sexual Assault Hearing: 'Not Entitled to Special Treatment'

The entertainer's preliminary hearing is May 24

Photo: Todd Korol/Toronto Star/Getty; Gilbert Carrasquillo/WireImage

Pennsylvania prosecutors filed court papers Monday saying the Pennsylvania Supreme Court should reject Bill Cosby’s recent request to delay his May 24 preliminary hearing on sexual assault charges.

“This rich, celebrity defendant is not entitled to unprecedented special treatment,” prosecutors argued in the court papers.

“If such extraordinary treatment is given to this high profile case, it will no doubt inspire many others – facing the unpleasant prospect of a trial, a jury of their peers, and possible conviction – to do the same,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele argues to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Last December, Cosby was charged with aggravated indecent assault for the alleged 2004 sexual assault of Andrea Constand, a former University of Temple employee. More than 50 women have accused Cosby of drugging and/or sexually assaulting them, but Cosby and his representatives have steadfastly denied the charges.

He is free on $1 million bail.

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On May 4, Cosby’s lawyers filed an emergency stay asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to review a decision by a mid-level court that allowed the case to go forward.

Cosby’s attorneys argue that in 2005, former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. promised Cosby immunity from prosecution in exchange for a deposition he gave for a civil suit against him. (In that deposition, Cosby admitted to giving quaaludes to a woman he wanted to have sex with.)

“If this court does not stay those proceedings, Mr. Cosby’s fundamental due process right not to be prosecuted and not to be subject to the criminal proceedings will be irreparably lost,” the filing by Cosby’s attorneys stated.

In the recently filed court papers, Steele, the current district attorney, argues that there is no precedent in Pennsylvania for the Supreme Court to intervene in a fashion Cosby has requested.

Steele also argues that Cosby’s alleged “brazen scorched earth approach to criminal defense has indeed caused the wheels of justice to move slowly here” and that further delay would be “unjustified.”

With reporting by Nicole Weisensee Egan