L.A. Prosecutors Decline To Charge Bill Cosby In Decades-Old Molestation Claim
LOS ANGELES (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A day after his wife Camille issued a statement supporting her husband, a Los Angeles prosecutor has declined to file any charges against Bill Cosby after a woman recently reported the comedian molested her around 1974.
The rejection of a child sexual abuse charge by prosecutors on Tuesday comes roughly 10 days after the woman, Judy Huth, met with police detectives. 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.
Huth has 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.
Cosby's wife released a statement Monday, saying those who have accused him of sexual assault have been have been "given a pass" without their accounts ever being vetted.
Camille Cosby noted that she met her husband in 1963 and married him the following year, and said he is, in fact, "the man you thought you knew."
"The man I met, and fell in love with, and whom I continue to love, is the man you knew through his work. He is a kind man, a generous man, a funny man, and a wonderful husband, father and friend," Camille Cosby wrote.
She called the portrait created by the allegations against Bill Cosby "the portrait of a man I do not know."
"There appears to be no vetting of my husband's accusers before stories are published or aired. An accusation is published, and immediately goes viral," Camille Cosby wrote.
Camille Cosby made reference to recent scandal surrounding a Rolling Stone magazine article about an alleged gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity house. The magazine has admitted to mistakes in the story, and friends have given different accounts of what happened from that of the victim, "Jackie."
"We followed the story of the article in the 'Rolling Stone' concerning allegations of rape at the University of Virginia. The story was heart-breaking, but ultimately appears to be untrue. Many in the media were quick to link that story to stories about my husband – until that story unwound," Camille Cosby wrote. "None of us will ever want to be in the position of attacking a victim. But the question should be asked – who is the victim?"
Bill Cosby's attorney on Monday also released a statement, taking an issue with a story published Saturday by the New York Post that claimed Cosby had "broken hi silence."
The article by Stacy Brown said Cosby had "lectured the media on remaining 'neutral,'" and specifically said the African-American media – for which Brown said in the story that he often writes himself – should "go in with a neutral mind."
Bill Cosby's attorney, John P. Schmitt, wrote that Cosby and Brown did, in fact, have a telephone conversation. But Schmitt also wrote that Cosby was not told that he was being interviewed on the record, that the conversation was being recorded, or that Brown was writing for the New York Post.
"In a discussion of journalistic standards, Mr. Brown failed to adhere to the most basic standards of his profession," Schmitt wrote.
More than 20 women have made sexual assault or drugging allegations against Cosby. The most recent last week was supermodel Beverly Johnson, who claimed that she went to rehearse a scene for the "Cosby Show" in the 1980s, Bill Cosby instead tried to drug her.
On Monday, Spelman College in Atlanta suspended a professorship named after Cosby and his wife.
The program was set up to bring positive attention to the school, after the couple donated $20 million to the college in 1988.
Cosby's daughter Evin took to her facebook page and thanked those who have supported her father, praised her mother for releasing her statement and posted her opinion on rape:
"Rape is a serious allegation and it is suppose to be taken VERY seriously but so is Falsely accusing someone. When someone rapes a person they go to prison. THAT should also happen to the person that has wrongfully accused an innocent victim. They are not ONLY destroying innocent people's life they are ALSO making it hard for the MEN and Women to find justice when they have been raped."
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories
(TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
