mirror-epstein-docs/results/IMAGES002/DOJ-OGR-00004824.json

{
  "document_metadata": {
    "page_number": "12",
    "document_number": "310-1",
    "date": "07/02/21",
    "document_type": "Court Document",
    "has_handwriting": false,
    "has_stamps": false
  },
  "full_text": "Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 310-1 Filed 07/02/21 Page 12 of 80\ndefects in the case, that the case could not be won and that I was going to make a public statement that we were not going to charge Mr. Cosby.\nI told him that I was making it as the sovereign Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and, in my legal opinion, that meant that Mr. Cosby would not be allowed to take the Fifth Amendment in the subsequent civil suit that Andrea Constand's lawyers had told us they wanted to bring.\n[Attorney] Phillips agreed with me that that is, in fact, the law of Pennsylvania and of the United States and agreed that if Cosby was subpoenaed, he would be required to testify.\nBut those two things were not connected one to the other. Mr. Cosby was not getting prosecuted at all ever as far as I was concerned. And my belief was that, as the Commonwealth and the representative of the sovereign, that I had the power to make such a statement and that, by doing so, as a matter of law Mr. Cosby would be unable to assert the Fifth Amendment in a civil deposition.\n[Attorney] Phillips, a lawyer of vastly more experience even than me—and I had 20 years on the job by that point—agreed with my legal assessment. And he said that he would communicate that to the lawyers who were representing Mr. Cosby in the pending civil suit.\nId. at 64-66. Recalling his thought process at the time, the former district attorney further emphasized that it was \"absolutely\" his intent to remove \"for all time\" the possibility of prosecution, because \"the ability to take the Fifth Amendment is also for all time removed.\" Id. at 67.\nConsistent with his discussion with Attorney Phillips, D.A. Castor issued another press release, this time informing the public that he had decided not to prosecute Cosby.\nThe press release stated, in full:\nMontgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor, Jr. has announced that a joint investigation by his office and the Cheltenham Township Police Department into allegations against actor and comic Bill Cosby is concluded. Cosby maintains a residence in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County.\nA 31 year old female, a former employee of the Athletic Department of Temple University complained to detectives that Cosby touched her inappropriately during a visit to his home in January of 2004. The woman reported the allegation to police in her native Canada on January 13, 2005.\n[J-100-2020] - 11\nDOJ-OGR-00004824",
  "text_blocks": [
    {
      "type": "printed",
      "content": "Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 310-1 Filed 07/02/21 Page 12 of 80",
      "position": "header"
    },
    {
      "type": "printed",
      "content": "defects in the case, that the case could not be won and that I was going to make a public statement that we were not going to charge Mr. Cosby.\nI told him that I was making it as the sovereign Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and, in my legal opinion, that meant that Mr. Cosby would not be allowed to take the Fifth Amendment in the subsequent civil suit that Andrea Constand's lawyers had told us they wanted to bring.\n[Attorney] Phillips agreed with me that that is, in fact, the law of Pennsylvania and of the United States and agreed that if Cosby was subpoenaed, he would be required to testify.\nBut those two things were not connected one to the other. Mr. Cosby was not getting prosecuted at all ever as far as I was concerned. And my belief was that, as the Commonwealth and the representative of the sovereign, that I had the power to make such a statement and that, by doing so, as a matter of law Mr. Cosby would be unable to assert the Fifth Amendment in a civil deposition.\n[Attorney] Phillips, a lawyer of vastly more experience even than me—and I had 20 years on the job by that point—agreed with my legal assessment. And he said that he would communicate that to the lawyers who were representing Mr. Cosby in the pending civil suit.\nId. at 64-66. Recalling his thought process at the time, the former district attorney further emphasized that it was \"absolutely\" his intent to remove \"for all time\" the possibility of prosecution, because \"the ability to take the Fifth Amendment is also for all time removed.\" Id. at 67.\nConsistent with his discussion with Attorney Phillips, D.A. Castor issued another press release, this time informing the public that he had decided not to prosecute Cosby.\nThe press release stated, in full:\nMontgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor, Jr. has announced that a joint investigation by his office and the Cheltenham Township Police Department into allegations against actor and comic Bill Cosby is concluded. Cosby maintains a residence in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County.\nA 31 year old female, a former employee of the Athletic Department of Temple University complained to detectives that Cosby touched her inappropriately during a visit to his home in January of 2004. The woman reported the allegation to police in her native Canada on January 13, 2005.",
      "position": "main body"
    },
    {
      "type": "printed",
      "content": "[J-100-2020] - 11",
      "position": "footer"
    },
    {
      "type": "printed",
      "content": "DOJ-OGR-00004824",
      "position": "footer"
    }
  ],
  "entities": {
    "people": [
      "Mr. Cosby",
      "Andrea Constand",
      "Attorney Phillips",
      "Bruce L. Castor, Jr.",
      "Bill Cosby"
    ],
    "organizations": [
      "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania",
      "United States",
      "Temple University",
      "Montgomery County District Attorney's Office",
      "Cheltenham Township Police Department"
    ],
    "locations": [
      "Pennsylvania",
      "United States",
      "Canada",
      "Cheltenham Township",
      "Montgomery County"
    ],
    "dates": [
      "January 2004",
      "January 13, 2005",
      "07/02/21"
    ],
    "reference_numbers": [
      "1:20-cr-00330-PAE",
      "310-1",
      "J-100-2020",
      "DOJ-OGR-00004824"
    ]
  },
  "additional_notes": "The document appears to be a court filing related to the Bill Cosby case. It includes a detailed discussion of the legal reasoning behind the decision not to prosecute Cosby and references to specific pages in a previous document (Id. at 64-66, Id. at 67). The document is well-formatted and free of significant damage or redactions."
}