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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 310-1 Filed 07/02/21 Page 50 of 80
law, .. . appellate courts have the power to draw their own inferences and make their own
deductions and conclusions.” /n re Pruner's Est., 162 A.2d 626, 631 (Pa. 1960) (citations
omitted).
Here, the trial court presided over the habeas corpus hearing, viewing and hearing
the witnesses and their testimonies first-hand. From that vantage point, the trial court
determined that, as a matter of fact, D.A. Castor had not extended a formal promise to
Cosby never to prosecute him, let alone consummated a formal non-prosecution
agreement with Cosby. The factual basis for the court’s findings was two-fold. First, the
court characterized the interaction between the district attorney and Cosby as a failed
attempt to reach a statutorily prescribed transactional immunity agreement. Second, the
court concluded that the former district attorney's testimony regarding the legal
relationship between him and Cosby was inconsistent and “equivocal at best.” T.C.O. at
63. Both findings are supported adequately by the record.
Pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S. § 5947, when a prosecutor wishes to formalize an immunity
agreement, he or she “may request an immunity order from any judge of a designated
court.” /d. § 5947(b). Presented with such a request, the petitioned court “shall issue
such an order,” id., upon which a witness “may not refuse to testify based on his privilege
against self-incrimination.” /d. § 5947(c). At the habeas hearing, former District Attorney
Castor testified that he intended to provide Cosby with transactional immunity. He
explained that this conferral was predicated upon the state’s common-law authority as a
sovereign rather than any statutory provisions or protocols. T.C.O. at 57 (citing N.T.,
2/2/2016, at 232, 234, 236). The record does not contradict his testimony. There is no
evidence, nor any real contention, that the parties even contemplated a grant of immunity
under Section 5947. The trial court’s finding that the interaction between D.A. Castor and
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