Bill Cosby's 2005 deposition shouldn't be allowed in rape case, former prosecutor claims

                         VIEW PRESS/© VIEW PRESS/CORBIS

A former district attorney in Pennsylvania warned in an email last year that Bill Cosby’s lurid 2005 deposition in a civil case couldn’t be used as the basis for a criminal case against the disgraced comedian — a claim countered by the current prosecutors, according to reports.

In the email, obtained by CNN, former Montgomery County district attorney Bruce Castor told his successor that a verbal agreement that led to Cosby’s testimony in a 2005 civil sexual assault case would disqualify the disturbing tale Cosby told as evidence.

“I can see no possibility that Cosby's deposition could be used in a state criminal case, because I would have to testify as to what happened, and the deposition would be subject to suppression,” Castor wrote to then-DA Risa Vetri Ferman. “I cannot believe any state court judge would allow that deposition into evidence.”

The current district attorney argued that Castor’s claim is bogus.

“There is a specific legal method to grant immunity. That was not done in 2005,” current district attorney, Kevin Steele, who was elected in November partially on the promise he would prosecute Cosby, told CNN Friday.

Criminal charges were announced against Cosby last month, just weeks before the statute of limitations ran out, by Steele.

Cosby was charged with sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a Temple University employee, at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004.

Constand filed her civil suit against Cosby and settled out of court the following year.

In the civil deposition, Cosby said under oath that he gave Constand halved pills that he described as “three friends to make (her) relax,” according to the affidavit.

He also acknowledged under oath that he obtained seven prescriptions in his own name for Quaaludes for the purpose of having sex with women.

The deposition is considered a key piece of evidence, cited by prosecutors as the impetus for reopening the case.

The charges mark the first criminal prosecution of the diminishing star and sets the stage for what could be a blockbuster trial involving some of the roughly 60 other accusers who say they were sexually assaulted by Cosby.

The 78-year-old was released on $1 million bail and faces up to a decade behind bars if convicted.

In a statement Monday, Cosby’s attorneys claimed that the charges against the former funnyman were “illegally, improperly and unethically brought by District Attorney Kevin Steele and his office.”

According to the statement, the charges “violate an express agreement made by the Montgomery County District Attorney in 2005, in which the Commonwealth agreed that Mr. Cosby would never be prosecuted with respect to the allegations of sexual assault made by complainant Andrea Constand.”

See How To Read A WhatsApp Message Without The Sender Knowing

                   Image credit: WhatsApp

The trouble with read messages on WhatsApp is that they are immediately marked with tiny blue ticks that let the sender know that they’ve been seen.

That’s great, unless the person receiving the message isn’t ready to reply straight away and doesn’t want the sender to know that they’re (temporarily) ignoring them.

To avoid any accusations of a snub, there’s a sneaky trick to avoid this so that WhatsApp users can read their messages when they’re good and ready with no fear of a social backlash.

All users need to do when they want to secretly read a WhatsApp message is to avoid opening it straight away and instead turn on Airplane Mode in their smartphone settings.

Once this is turned on, they can head back to WhatsApp and read the message without the little blue ticks appearing.

After the message has been read, the WhatsApp should be closed fully and the Airplane Mode turned back off in the settings, leaving the sender blissfully unaware that their message has been read.

With Libby Plummer

Premier League: Christian Benteke, the £32.5m misfit set to be first big casualty of Klopp era

                     Liverpool's Christian Benteke

It was David de Gea’s comeback. He had been banished to the stands, while his unconvincing deputy Sergio Romero was culpable for defeat at Swansea. He had almost joined Real Madrid, only for a deal to break down amid claim, counter-claim and shared attempts to blame the other club. He had signed a new contract.

The narrative dictated that he would keep a clean sheet. He was about six minutes away from a restorative shutout. Then a 6ft 3in Belgian battering ram went airborne, swivelling to volley spectacularly.

De Gea had no chance. Christian Benteke had beaten him. It was brilliant, but in vain. It finished Manchester United 3 Liverpool 1.

hat was September. And while it is only the half-way stage of the campaign, and Liverpool have scored other memorable goals - whether from Philippe Coutinho at Stoke in August or Roberto Firminoagainst Arsenal on Wednesday - the sense is that the club’s goal-of-the-year contest should be closed. It ought to be a formality.

And yet when Liverpool and United reconvene on Sunday, De Gea and Benteke will not be pitted against each other again. Not at first. Perhaps not at all.

The second most expensive player in Liverpool’s history has become the multi-million pound substitute, a microcosm of the lack of joined-up thinking at Anfield. Benteke looks a symbol of Liverpool’s capacity to sign the wrong player; not always a bad footballer per se, but exemplifying the ever more prevalent case of club and player being a mismatch.

Firmino’s own goal-of-the-season contender, his wonderfully curled second on Wednesday, was not the most significant element of the 3-3 draw with Arsenal for Benteke. Nor was his headed assist for Joe Allen’s last-minute leveller. That came when the teamsheets were posted an hour before kick-off.

Firmino, with a solitary goal in his previous 24 Liverpool games, was preferred in attack, a false nine chosen ahead of the sole specialist striker available. It was a selection that was signposted when Benteke was sent with the kids, the stiffs and the strangers to Exeter last Friday.

It is easier to contort Benteke's sizeable frame in mid-air to execute a high-class bicycle kick than to get him harrying and chasing in a way to suit Jurgen Klopp. Benteke is deemed too static to gegenpress in the German’s style.

In other circumstances, with Daniel Sturridge, Danny Ings and Divock Origi injured, he would be a shoo-in to start. Instead, Benteke has suffered the ignominy of being omitted so Klopp can improvise with an ersatz striker, in Firmino. Rather than being the first name on the teamsheet, he seems the first chosen on the bench. He is Plan B.

Plan C, remarkably enough, is sending centre-back Steven Caulkeron alongside him in attack.

It is not that Benteke’s Liverpool record is actually that poor. Anfield has been a strikers’ graveyard. Yet his return of seven goals in 23 games compares favourably with Iago Aspas (one in 15), Rickie Lambert (three in 36), Fabio Borini (three in 38), Mario Balotelli (four in 28), Andy Carroll (11 in 58) and Fernando Morientes (12 in 60).

Read the full article on eurosport.co.uk: Christian Benteke, the £32.5m misfit set to be first big casualty of Klopp era.

With Richard Jolly

A girl jumping across rooftops falls to her death

                                                                           FACEBOOK

A Manhattan teenager, whose family owns a popular Chelsea pizzeria, plummeted six stories to her death when she slipped jumping across a rooftop airshaft in Hell’s Kitchen Friday, police and witnesses said.

Natalya Jimenez, 15, fell into an airshaft on the roof of a 10th Ave. apartment building near W. 48th St. at around 4:30 p.m, witnesses said.

“It was a big thump,” said Leslie Rodriguez, who lives in the back of the building on 699 10th Ave. “I thought someone had slammed the door. I ran down and saw someone lying there. She was in a crouch. It was horrible.”

Jimenez had been hopping across rooftops with two 14-year-old girlfriends before her fall police said. The teen lived above her family’s Famous Original Ray’s Pizza on Ninth Ave. and W. 22nd St.

"She was the best little girl in New York," said her grandfather Rosalino Mangano outside the pizzeria Friday night.

“She was the smartest girl," said Jimenez’s shell-shocked mother Agatha Mangano.

Jimenez was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital after police found her body at the bottom of the four-by-15-foot airshaft.

Her two friends wept as emergency responders took Jimenez’s body out of the building in a black bag, a witness said.

“The two other girls were crying. they couldn’t even speak,” said Kelvin Thompson, 30.



With Ben Kochman

Woman jailed for writing scripts for romance scammers

Jailed: Patricia Wutaan Photo: Metropolitan Police/Handout

A woman who wrote scripts for romance fraudsters to use, including one about losing a loved one in the 9/11 attacks, has been jailed for two years.

Patricia Wutaan offered scammers tips on how to tug at the heart strings of unsuspecting victims and also laundered the money from a 70-year-old victim.

The 55-year-old was arrested following a tip off in February 2014 and when officers searched her home they found a number of hand-written notes including one which purported to be from the widow of a victim of the terror attacks in New York in 2001.

The script read: “I am a widow. Lost my husband to 9/11 terror attacks in New York. He made it out of the collapsed building but he later died because of heavy dust and smoke and he was asthmatic.”

Script OnPhoto: Metropolitan Police/Handout

Another note claimed to be from a widow who was waiting for money from her late husband’s will.

Script TwoPhoto: Metropolitan Police/Handout

The notes also included instructions such as: “Stay calm and moody until you get his final word” and “Let him do most of the talking, be sad and worried about taking care of bills for rest of the month. When he asks what he can do to help ask him for $2000 - $3000.”

Script FourPhoto: Metropolitan Police/Handout

Wutaan initially denied writing the notes, but handwriting experts proved they were a perfect match with her hand.

Police said there was no evidence that she had used the scripts herself, but they also recovered fake passports and drivers’ licenses from her Bromley home.

Script FivePhoto: Metropolitan Police/Handout

Detectives also discovered she had almost £30,000 paid into her bank account from a man in Switzerland, who had fallen victim to one of her associates.

Detective Constable Neil Sykes, of the Central Criminal Finances Team, said: “Wutaan's home was an Aladdin's cave of fraudsters' scripts and false IDs. It was almost like she was compiling a fraudsters' handbook.

“The scripts she had written demonstrate exactly the kinds of stories that victims are fed by fraudsters; designed to manipulate the victim into feeling sorry for them and wanting to help them.

“I urge anyone using a dating site to question what they are being told by other 'daters', especially when they are being asked for money or personal details.

“If you think you have been a victim, please don't be embarrassed - tell police, so we can try and stop the fraudsters.”