She wished Cosby luck at the end of the three-hour hearing, and he thanked her before leaving the courtroom.
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Cosby helped her to a couch in his living room, where she later realized he violated her as she lay helplessly in a stupor, she told police in 2005.
The veteran comedian, who is free on $1 million (£691,000) bail, has been accused of rape, drugging and/or performing inappropriate sex acts by over 50 women since late 2014.
No date has been set for the trial.
The decision was taken by Judge Elizabeth A. McHugh as it is a mandatory procedure in Pennsylvania legislation.
With this legal defeat of Cosby’s five month campaign to avoid going to trial, a decade that has been shrouded in the rumors and the mysteries of ‘he said, she said, ‘ will finally see what should hopefully prove to be some much needed legal clarity.
Testimony began with Constand’s statement being admitted into evidence, and County Detective Katherine Hart read the typed statement she took from Constand a decade ago.
Montgomery County DA addresses Bill Cosby hearing Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele talks to reports about Tuesday’s hearing, which sends Bill Cosby’s criminal charges to trial.
Cosby told police Constand was conscious during the incident, never told him to stop and did not mention any ill effects from the pills, Norris said.
“Everything was blurry and dizzy”. Cosby said their rendezvous occurred at a Las Vegas hotel in 1976, and he gave her Quaaludes before having sex.
I in no way mean to suggest that the predicaments that cultural consumers face when important artists are accused of grave misdeeds are in any way comparable to the agony that Cosby’s accusers feel.
Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, said that Mr. Cosby drugged and assaulted her in his home in January 2004. But reading a police statement into the record is common practice at preliminary hearings in Pennsylvania.
The defense also said that there were several other encounters between the two where they engaged in sexual relations. “Though the Court decided the government reached the low threshold required for today’s preliminary hearing, we have no doubt this case ultimately will be resolved in Mr. Cosby’s favor”. “They chose not to”, attorney Brian McMonagle, who represents Cosby, said afterward, contending that there is “no evidence of a crime here”. He says he gave Constand Benadryl.
Ms Constand, who was working for a basketball team at a Philadelphia university Cosby attended, said she had approached him for career advice.
The Associated Press notes that Cosby is also “fighting defamation lawsuits across the country for allegedly branding his accusers liars”.
“The typical defense tactic is always attack the victim, put the victim on trial, not the client, the defendant who is charged with three serious felonies”, Allred said.
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It made the comedian one of America’s most popular entertainers. AP material published by LongIsland.com, is done so with explicit permission.
