Bill Cosby urges courts to reseal deposition in cases

Lawyers for embattled TV comedian Bill Cosby asked a federal appeals court in Philadelphia to reseal testimony he gave a decade ago about extra-marital affairs, Quaaludes and payments to women.

ABC News reported that Cosby does not want the testimony used in the cases he is facing against women who accuse him of sexual assault or defamation. The documents were made public last year at the request of the Associated Press and the 78-year old Cosby hopes to overturn the ruling.

The Associated Press argues that the issue has become moot considering the amount of publicity that the case has generated. In the deposition, Cosby admits to having several affairs, saying he obtained prescription sedatives to women he hoped to have sex with.

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, Newsmax reported that attorneys for Cosby are asking a federal court judge for a similar ruling. They are urging the judge to seal testimony related to a defamation suit brought by seven women who accused the comedian of sexual assault.

Tamara Green, later joined by six other women, sued Cosby in December 2014, accusing him of lying when he publicly denied sexully assaulting her and the other six. He filed a countersuit in US District Court in Massachusetts accusing the women of defaming him.

The seven are among more than 50 women who have accused Cosby of assaulting them after plying them with alcohol or drugs in alleged attacks carried out over multiple decades. The accusations dragged down Cosby's reputation as one of America's best-loved comedians who built a career on family-friendly humor on TV. Cosby has always denied wrongdoing as he faces several civil suits.

The Times Picayune noted that the documents being asked to be resealed are no longer secret as transcript of the testimony is already in the hands of several news organizations who have reported on it extensively.

The magistrate assigned to settle the controversy, Judge David H. Hennessy, was baffled by the request likening the efforts of Cosby's attorneys to the almost impossible task of "putting toothpaste back in the tube." But the efforts of Cosby's defense team offers insight into their strategy as well as the realities of an information-overloaded, short attention-span-media age.

The details of the deposition may have already been reported, Cosby attorney Marshall Searcy said in a hearing, but if the judge declines to seal the deposition, the transcript would once again become a "news item" and enter "the news cycle." "Seeking to seal it here stops the further dissemination," Searcy said.

Bill Cosby was best known for his role as Heathcliff Huxtable in the long running 1980s television hit, "The Cosby Show." 

Tags

Bill Cosby, testimony resealed, defamation suit, Sexual Assault

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