Comedian Bill Cosby, who played “Cliff Huxtable” in the highly televised TV series “The Cosby Show” and has been the subject of of several sexual assaults and allegations in the last two months, will not be charged in connection with the claim by Judy Huth that she was sexually molested by Cosby at the Playboy Mansion in 1974. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s (DA) Office declined to file charges against embattled Cosby regarding Huth’s claim because the statute of limitations had long ago expired and the case was now considered too old. It was also reported that before the case was rejected by the DA, consideration was given to the charge Cosby would have faced back then in 1974 and the modifications that extended the statute of limitations for certain crimes, but they found none that could have allowed them to legally prosecute Cosby now.
In a statement, prosecutors said that if the alleged crime had been committed after Jan. 1, 1994, they could charge the 77-year-old Cosby with performing a lewd or lascivious act on a minor, as that law allows for an extension of the statute of limitations for certain sex crimes to one year from the date the alleged victim contacted law enforcement, NBC News reports.
It was however reported that a few days before Huth spoke to Los Angeles police, she had accused Cosby in a civil lawsuit of forcing her to perform a sex act on him in at the Playboy Mansion when she was 15 years old. She had also tried to extort $250,000 from Cosby before going ahead to sue him. Cosby is reported to be seeking a dismissal of Huth’s lawsuit, based on the fact that it is blocked by the statute of limitations.
Although Cosby has never been charged in connection with any of the allegations though he settled a lawsuit in 2005 with a Pennsylvania woman before it went to trial, his career has however taken a downward spiral with several stand-up comedy performances and tours cancelled, and shows turned down or postponed by Media houses.
Photo Credit: Rick Friedman/Reuters
