DOJ-OGR-00004815.jpg
Extracted Text (OCR)
Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 310-1 Filed 07/02/21 Page 3 of 80
evidence upon which any charge against Mr. Cosby related to the Constand incident
could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”'
Seeking “some measure of justice” for Constand, D.A. Castor decided that the
Commonwealth would decline to prosecute Cosby for the incident involving Constand,
thereby allowing Cosby to be forced to testify in a subsequent civil action, under penalty
of perjury, without the benefit of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination .2
Unable to invoke any right not to testify in the civil proceedings, Cosby relied upon the
district attorney’s declination and proceeded to provide four sworn depositions. During
those depositions, Cosby made several incriminating statements.
D.A. Castor’s successors did not feel bound by his decision, and decided to
prosecute Cosby notwithstanding that prior undertaking. The fruits of Cosby’s reliance
upon D.A. Castor’s decision—Cosby’s sworn inculpatory testimony—were then used by
D.A. Castor’s successors against Cosby at Cosby’s criminal trial. We granted allowance
of appeal to determine whether D.A. Castor’s decision not to prosecute Cosby in
exchange for his testimony must be enforced against the Commonwealth.®
I. Factual and Procedural History
In the fall of 2002, Constand, a Canadian-born former professional basketball
player, was employed as the Director of Basketball Operations at Temple University. It
was in this capacity that Constand first met Cosby, who had close ties to, and was heavily
i Notes of Testimony (“N.T.”), Habeas Corpus Hearing, 2/2/2016, at 60.
2 Id. at 63.
3 As we discuss in more detail below, at Cosby’s trial, the trial court permitted the
Commonwealth to call five witnesses who testified that Cosby had engaged in similar
sexually abusive patterns with each of them. We granted allowance of appeal here as
well to consider the admissibility of that prior bad act evidence pursuant to Pa.R.E. 404(b).
However, because our decision on the Castor declination issue disposes of this appeal,
we do not address the Rule 404(b) claim.
[J-100-2020] - 2
DOJ-OGR-00004815