L.A. prosecutor declines to charge Cosby over allegations by two women

The Los Angeles County district attorney has declined to bring criminal charges against comedian Bill Cosby stemming from sexual assault allegations by two women over separate incidents, one dating back to 1965 and the other to 2008, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

The district attorney, Jackie Lacey, determined that prosecution in both cases was barred by the statute of limitations, the D.A.’s office said in a statement.

The ruling in Los Angeles, which does not name the two accusers, comes a week after Cosby was criminally charged in Pennsylvania with sexually assaulting a woman in his home near Philadelphia after plying her with drugs and alcohol in 2004.

The Pennsylvania case, filed just before the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution in that state was due to lapse, stems from allegations by a former Temple University employee, Andrea Constand, who settled a civil case against Cosby for an undisclosed sum in 2006.

The Pennsylvania case marked the first and only criminal charged brought against the once-beloved entertainer whose father-figure persona has been marred by dozens of similar accusations, some dating back decades.

Cosby, best known for playing Doctor Cliff Huxtable, the family patriarch in the long-running hit television sitcom “The Cosby Show,” has acknowledged marital infidelity but has denied allegations of sexual misconduct.