Cosby seeks defense lawyer for Pa. probe

September 24, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

PHILADELPHIA

Comedian Bill Cosby is seeking to hire a criminal defense lawyer as suburban prosecutors revisit a 2005 sexual-assault complaint against him.

Lawyer Edwin Jacobs said late Tuesday that Cosby’s agents had contacted him in the past few days about a pending investigation in Montgomery County. Jacobs, who had represented Cosby in a review of another accuser’s complaint in New Jersey, said he referred Cosby’s agents to another high-profile Philadelphia-area lawyer.

That other lawyer did not return message seeking comment late Tuesday. The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported Tuesday on Jacobs’ involvement in the case.

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman wouldn’t confirm her office is reinvestigating the complaint by former Temple University employee Andrea Constand. However, she said in a recent statement “prosecutors have a responsibility to review past conclusions ... when current information might lead to a different decision.”

Ferman’s predecessor, Bruce Castor, didn’t think the evidence was sufficient to charge Cosby with a crime in 2005. Since then, dozens of women have accused the “I Spy” actor of drugging and molesting them, echoing the accusations Constand first made public with her January 2005 complaint to police and her later civil lawsuit.

Bulger memorabilia sales rise with new film

BOSTON

There’s a mugshot from Alcatraz, an autographed prison shirt and poker chips featuring his photo.

Memorabilia related to Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger is being peddled to coincide with the release of the new Johnny Depp movie on Bulger’s life.

“Black Mass” hit theaters last week. Now, Bulger items are all over eBay and sellers are hoping to cash in on the movie’s buzz.

Some relatives of Bulger’s victims aren’t happy about all the hawking.

Patricia Donahue, whose husband was killed by Bulger and an associate in 1982, said she doesn’t understand why anyone would want to buy or sell anything that belonged to Bulger.

Bulger, now 86, was one of the most-notorious gangsters in Boston, running a violent criminal organization from the 1970s into the 1990s after serving time in Alcatraz, among other prisons, for armed robbery and truck hijacking. He fled Boston on the eve of a racketeering indictment in 1995 and remained one of the nation’s most-wanted fugitives until he was captured in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2011.

In 2013, he was convicted of participating in 11 killings and a litany of other crimes. He is serving life in prison.

Aretha’s gift for pope

NEW YORK

Getting Aretha Franklin to sing for you could be considered a gift in itself. But the Queen of Soul has something special for Pope Francis when she performs for him at the Festival of Families concert in Philadelphia on Saturday.

Franklin said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday that she’ll present the pope with a huge boxed set of sermons by her father, civil-rights activist C.L. Franklin, a famous preacher in his own right.

Associated Press