Bill Cosby likely to avoid testifying in lawsuit over alleged 1974 Playboy Mansion sexual assault

foxnews.com:

A judge on Friday in Los Angeles appeared 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 to argue the issue, Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan agreed with Cosby's attorney that the 84-year-old has a reasonable fear of again facing criminal charges for one or more of the many sexual assault allegations that have been publicly aired against him and has a right to avoid saying anything under oath that might lead to such charges. "It does appear he has a reasonable fear of prosecution, and if new information came out, that could cause a prosecutor to change their mind," Karlan said. "I don't see how one could find to the contrary, other than concluding that he has a reasonable fear." Attorneys for Judy Huth, who alleges Cosby forced her to perform a sex act on him at the Playboy Mansion around 1974, are seeking to compel Cosby to give a second deposition.

Cosby's attorneys denied the allegation. He gave an initial deposition soon after the lawsuit was filed in 2014, before his two criminal trials and a later-overturned conviction in Pennsylvania.

Huth's attorney, John Steven West, argued that accusations against Cosby have been aired for years, and that all the alleged incidents date back decades.