Bill Cosby likely to avoid testifying in sex assault lawsuit

Cosby's attorneys have denied the allegation

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) – A Los Angeles judge appears strongly inclined to allow Bill Cosby to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege and avoid giving a deposition in the lawsuit of a woman who alleges he sexually abused her when she was 15 in the mid-1970s.

At a hearing Friday, Judge Craig Karlan agreed with Cosby’s lawyer that the 84-year-old has a reasonable fear of facing new criminal charges based on what he might reveal under oath.

Cosby’s attorneys have denied the allegation. In 2018, Cosby was convicted of drugging and molesting a Pennsylvania woman, but last year an appeals court threw out the conviction.