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Bill Cosby won't be charged over molestation claim; wife, eldest daughter defend actor

Wednesday, 17 December 2014, 06:39 Last update: about 11 years ago

Los Angeles prosecutors on Tuesday declined to file any charges against Bill Cosby after a woman recently claimed the comedian molested her around 1974.

The rejection of a child sexual abuse charge by prosecutors came roughly 10 days after the woman, Judy Huth, met with Los Angeles police detectives for 90 minutes.

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office rejected filing a misdemeanor charge of annoying or molesting a child under the age of 18 because the statute of limitations had passed.

Days before Huth spoke to police, she accused Cosby in a civil lawsuit of forcing her to perform a sex act on him in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion when she was 15 years old. Cosby's attorney said that Huth attempted to extort $250,000 from the comedian before she sued and that she'd attempted to sell her story to a tabloid a decade ago.

Cosby is seeking a dismissal of Huth's lawsuit, arguing it is blocked by the statute of limitations.

Huth told police that Cosby molested her and that she had no further contact with him after the incident, according to a summary of her allegations included with the prosecutor's decision.

In rejecting the case, prosecutors evaluated the charge Cosby would have faced in 1974. Prosecutors took into account legislative changes that extend the statute of limitations for certain crimes but found no way that Cosby could be legally prosecuted.

The statute of limitations for filing a misdemeanor case is one year; the statute of limitations for a felony sex crime committed in 1974 was three years, according to the prosecutors' analysis.

"It is our understanding that the decision not to prosecute was based on the statute of limitations and not on the merits of Ms. Huth's claims," Huth's attorney, Gloria Allred, wrote in a statement.

Cosby's attorney, Marty Singer, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Huth is one of at least 15 women who have come forward since early November with claims that Cosby sexually assaulted them decades ago. Most of the women say the comedian drugged them before he assaulted them. She is one of two women suingCosby; a second woman is suing for defamation.

Cosby has never been charged in connection with any of the allegations. A 2005 lawsuit by a Pennsylvania woman was settled before it went to trial.

Since the allegations emerged, Cosby's career has unraveled, with nearly a dozen performances canceled in his ongoing standup comedy tour. NBC has said it will not move forward with a Cosby sitcom that was under development, and Netflix indefinitely postponed a special that was set to premiere last month.

Cosby's attorneys have denied some of the allegations and dismissed others as decades old and "discredited."

***

A day after Camille Cosby released a statement in defense of her embattled husband, one of the comedian's four daughters is defending her father.

Evin Cosby, 38, says Bill Cosby "is the FATHER you thought you knew" in a statement, obtained Tuesday by "Access Hollywood." She also defended her father on Facebook where she wrote "Men and Women need to stand up and say something. There are plenty of them that have experienced being accused of a major crime that they NEVER committed."

In recent weeks, a different picture of Cosby has emerged as at least 15 women accused him of drugging and sexually assaulting them. He has never been charged in connection with the accusations. His lawyers have denied many of the allegations.

***

Bill Cosby's wife rejected sex assault allegations against her husband of a half-century on Monday, saying the man being accused by at least 15 women of drugging and having sex with them is "a man I do not know."

In a statement issued Monday, Camille Cosby dismissed accusations that date back as far as the late 1960s.

She suggested that her husband, not the women, is the party being harmed.

"None of us will ever want to be in the position of attacking a victim," she said. "But the question should be asked __ who is the victim?"

Cosby is being sued for defamation by one alleged victim and for sexual battery by another woman who says he forced her to perform a sex act when she was 15. He has never been charged in connection with any of the accusations, and his lawyers deny many of the allegations. He settled with a Pennsylvania woman who in a 2005 lawsuit said Cosby drugged and molested her in 2004.

A new round of claims of sexual assault and rape began in early November - accusations Camille Cosby said haven't been properly vetted by the media. She likened the media's handling of the accusations to a Rolling Stone article about a gang rape at the University of Virginia that later proved to be untrue, saying her husband's accusers have been "given a pass" by the media.

"The (Rolling Stone) story was heart-breaking, but ultimately appears to be proved to be untrue. Many in the media were quick to link that story to stories about my husband - until that story unwound," she said.

Noting that she married Cosby in 1964, a year after they met, she said, "The man I met, and fell in love with, and whom I continue to love, is the man you all knew through his work. He is a kind man, a generous man, a funny man, and a wonderful husband, father and friend. He is the man you thought you knew."

The statement, released by Cosby spokesman David Brokaw, is the first public comment from Camille Cosby since the renewed allegations began.

Since then, the 77-year-old comedian's tour has been whittled by cancellations and indefinite postponements of about 10 concerts in as many states reaching into next spring. A comedy special was canceled by Netflix, and NBC scuttled his prospective new sitcom that had been in the works.

Earlier Monday, Spelman College in Atlanta, a historically black institution, announced it was suspending its endowed professorship with Cosby.

Camille Cosby's defense of her husband came after this weekend's publication of a brief interview with Cosby in The New York Post, where he maintained his silence regarding the allegations while praising his wife for "love and the strength of womanhood" for weathering the public scrutiny raging against him.

While many of the allegations against Cosby are blocked from court by statutes of limitations, a Southern California woman has sued the comedian claiming he molested her in a bedroom of the Playboy Mansion around 1974 when she was 15 years old.

A lawyer for the woman, Judy Huth, wrote in a court filing Friday that he has interviewed two witnesses who corroborate her story. Attorney Marc Strecker also states he has photographs of Huth and Cosby that were shot at the Playboy Mansion when she was underage.

Cosby's attorneys are seeking to dismiss Huth's lawsuit, stating her efforts to sell her story to a tabloid 10 years ago undercut her claim that she only recently discovered the psychological damage she contends Cosby caused.

 

 

 

 

 

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