Bill Cosby will not face criminal charges after being accused of sexual assault by two women in separate incidents dating back to 1965 and 2008.
The Los Angeles County district attorney declared that the entertainer could not be prosecuted in the older case because of the statute of limitations and in the latter case by insufficient evidence.
The ruling, which does not name the two accusers, comes a week after Cosby, 78, was criminally charged in Pennsylvania with sexually assaulting a woman in his home near Philadelphia after plying her with drugs and alcohol in 2004.
The woman in the earlier Los Angeles case said she was 17 when the alleged assault occurred. The woman in the later case said she was 18 at the time of the alleged rape. Both women claimed that Cosby plied them with alcohol.
The Pennsylvania case, filed just before the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution in that state was due to lapse, stems from allegations by a former Temple University employee, Andrea Constand, who settled a civil case against Cosby for an undisclosed sum in 2006.
The Pennsylvania case marked the first and only criminal charge brought against the once-beloved entertainer whose father-figure persona has been marred by dozens of similar accusations, some dating back decades.
Cosby, best known for playing Doctor Cliff Huxtable, the family patriarch in the long-running hit television sitcom The Cosby Show, has acknowledged marital infidelity but has denied any allegations of sexual misconduct.
"We are satisfied that the Los Angeles D.A.'s Office fully and fairly evaluated all the facts and evidence, and came to the right conclusion," Cosby's legal team said in a statement.
The Los Angeles County district attorney declared that the entertainer could not be prosecuted in the older case because of the statute of limitations and in the latter case by insufficient evidence.
The ruling, which does not name the two accusers, comes a week after Cosby, 78, was criminally charged in Pennsylvania with sexually assaulting a woman in his home near Philadelphia after plying her with drugs and alcohol in 2004.
The woman in the earlier Los Angeles case said she was 17 when the alleged assault occurred. The woman in the later case said she was 18 at the time of the alleged rape. Both women claimed that Cosby plied them with alcohol.
The Pennsylvania case, filed just before the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution in that state was due to lapse, stems from allegations by a former Temple University employee, Andrea Constand, who settled a civil case against Cosby for an undisclosed sum in 2006.
The Pennsylvania case marked the first and only criminal charge brought against the once-beloved entertainer whose father-figure persona has been marred by dozens of similar accusations, some dating back decades.
Cosby, best known for playing Doctor Cliff Huxtable, the family patriarch in the long-running hit television sitcom The Cosby Show, has acknowledged marital infidelity but has denied any allegations of sexual misconduct.
"We are satisfied that the Los Angeles D.A.'s Office fully and fairly evaluated all the facts and evidence, and came to the right conclusion," Cosby's legal team said in a statement.
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