Ex-DA expected to be key defense witness at Cosby hearing

FILE - In this Jan. 17, 2015 file photo, comedian Bill Cosby performs at the Buell Theater in Denver. An ex-prosecutor is expected to testify that he promised Cosby would never be charged over a Pennsylvania sex-assault complaint, but a judge must decide if that constitutes an immunity deal. Then-District Attorney Bruce Castor will be a key defense witness at a Feb. 2 hearing to determine if the case is thrown out. The defense argues that prosecutors who arrested Cosby last month unfairly used his deposition testimony from the accuser's 2005 lawsuit against him. Castor supports their position. But new District Attorney Kevin Steele says there's no evidence of a signed immunity agreement. And accuser Andrea Constand's lawyer says she doesn't know of one. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File) FILE - In this Jan. 17, 2015 file photo, comedian Bill Cosby performs at the Buell Theater in Denver. An ex-prosecutor is expected to testify that he promised Cosby would never be charged over a Pennsylvania sex-assault complaint, but a judge must decide if that constitutes an immunity deal. Then-District Attorney Bruce Castor will be a key defense witness at a Feb. 2 hearing to determine if the case is thrown out. The defense argues that prosecutors who arrested Cosby last month unfairly used his deposition testimony from the accuser's 2005 lawsuit against him. Castor supports their position. But new District Attorney Kevin Steele says there's no evidence of a signed immunity agreement. And accuser Andrea Constand's lawyer says she doesn't know of one. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

By Associated Press January 16, 2016 3 min read

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – An ex-prosecutor is expected to testify that he promised Bill Cosby would never be charged over a 2005 sex-assault complaint, but a judge must decide if that constitutes an immunity deal.

Then-prosecutor Bruce Castor will be a key witness for the defense at a Feb. 2 hearing over what Cosby’s lawyers have called a “non-prosecution agreement.”

The defense argues that prosecutors who charged Cosby last month unfairly used his deposition testimony from the accuser’s civil lawsuit against him. Castor supports their position.

But Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, the prosecutor handling Cosby’s case, said there is no evidence of a signed immunity agreement. Cosby’s lawyers did not attach one to their recent motion to dismiss the case.

On Saturday, Andrea Constand’s lawyer said she never knew of such an agreement.