Bill Cosby Tries to Block Taped Phone Call With Accuser's Mother

Bill Cosby doesn't want the jury in his coming sex crimes trial in Pennsylvania to hear a reportedly incriminating phone call he made to the mother of Andrea Constand, whom he is accused of drugging and assaulting.

Cosby's lawyers filed a motion to suppress on Wednesday, saying the 2005 conversation was illegally recorded because he didn't know he was being taped, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

The call was the second between the two. During the first call, they discussed the alleged assault, and Cosby reportedly apologized, though later explained that the apology was meant to pacify Gianna Constrand. During the second call, Cosby allegedly offered to pay Constand's graduate school costs and other expenses.

"Cosby not only offered to pay for the victim’s therapy, but also her graduate school tuition and expenses for travel to Florida," detectives alleged in court documents, according to The Times Herald.

"Investigators recognize that individuals who are falsely accused of sexual assault generally do not unilaterally offer generous financial assistance, and apologies, to their accuser and their accuser’s family," detectives alleged. "To the contrary, such conduct is consistent with offenders who are seeking to make amends for wrongful behavior and prevent involvement by law enforcement."

Pennsylvania law requires that both parties consent to a recorded conversation. Constand's lawyers contend that the recording is legal because it was made in Ontario, Canada, where only one party is required to consent.

Bruce L. Castor Jr., who was a Montgomery County district attorney at the time of the call, said his belief that the call was illegally recorded factored into his decision at the time to decline charging Cosby. A judge in another Montgomery County case ruled that a phone call in which only one person consented to being recorded was admissible based on where the recording was made.

“It’s somewhat of an uphill battle” Widener University law professor Judith Ritter told The Huffington Post. “I would be surprised if the court granted this (motion to suppress).”

Cosby, 79, has pleaded not guilty to allegations of drugging and molesting Constand at his Pennsylvania home in 2004.

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