Bill Cosby’s attorney Michael Freedman reportedly said his client will exercise his 5th Amendment rights in a civil suit over an alleged sexual assault.
Freedman addressed the Los Angeles Superior Court, where the 84-year-old actor is facing a civil suit for allegedly assaulting Judy Huth at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, the Hollywood Reporter reported in a piece published on Thursday. Huth says she was 15 and Cosby is reportedly disputing her age. (RELATED: Jury Finds Bill Cosby Guilty In Sexual Assault Retrial)
Bill Cosby will plead the Fifth in civil lawsuit alleging he assaulted 15-year-old girl https://t.co/tlGmmx3hPs
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) August 12, 2021
“Defendant does not agree that merely because the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated Defendant’s criminal conviction for a single offense, allegedly arising from an incident that occurred in 2004, Defendant no longer enjoys a Fifth Amendment right to remain silent,” a status conference report read, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Bill Cosby’s Career Achievement Award Gets Revoked)
“This is particularly so where numerous states have no criminal statutes of limitations for sex crimes,” it added. “It is well-settled that the Fifth Amendment protects both the innocent and the guilty. Having already been forced to face a malicious criminal prosecution that resulted in an unlawful three-year incarceration, Defendant is not confident that such a risk does not still exist in this jurisdiction and others.” (RELATED: Bill Cosby Time Behind Bars Dramatically Cut After Deal Made Following Guilty Verdict)
“Indeed, prior to a stay being entered in this case, LAPD claimed that the Huth matter is an open criminal investigation,” Freedman continued in the reported documents. “Thus, Defendant anticipates that if he is forced to sit for a deposition, he will exercise his Fifth Amendment guarantees absent a court order ruling that he has no Fifth Amendment right in this jurisdiction or any others.”
The case was filed in 2014 but put on hold as “The Cosby Show” star faced criminal charges in Pennsylvania, where he was convicted in 2018 on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in Philadelphia in 2004, CNN reported.
Cosby served more than two years before the state’s highest court overturned the ruling due to a prior non-prosecution agreement. He was released from jail in June, NBC Philadelphia noted.