A judge on Tuesday ordered Bill Cosby to stand trial for the alleged sexual assault of Andrea Constand.
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Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, District Judge Elizabeth McHugh found probable cause after portions of the police statement from accuser Andrea Constand were read in court. The matter was initially settled out of court, but prosecution reopened the case past year after more than 50 women came forward with similar sexual abuse accusations. McMonagle said Constand brought a present for Cosby. New evidence, including a deposition given by Cosby, were enough to move the case forward in Pennsylvania this year.
Cosby could potentially face ten years in prison if convicted.
In his own statement to police, also read in court, Cosby portrayed it as consensual sexual activity, saying Ms Constand never said “no” as he put his hand down her pants.
More than 50 women have alleged that Cosby sexually assaulted them in incidents dating to the 1960s, when he emerged as a major comedy star.
In his police statement, Cosby said that Constand never said “no” as he put his hand down her trousers.
Bill Cosby is escorted into Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa. on February 2, 2016.
Cosby’s arraignment was originally scheduled for July 20, though he has waived his right to appear at that proceeding. Mocking Cosby’s “Teflon” persona and his disapproval of young black men wearing sagging trousers, Buress said: “Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby”. He said that there was sexual contact between the two, but it was consensual.
In the deposition he gave between 2005 and 2006, he admitted to giving sedatives called quaaludes to a then 19-year-old Therese Serignese.
Earlier Tuesday, the comedian walked into the courthouse on the arm of an aide, waving to people waiting outside. After taking the pills, she said, “everything was blurry and dizzy”. He believes that makes one part of Cosby’s police statement especially odd. Cosby has denied the allegation and accused Huth and her former lawyer of attempted extortion.
In his deposition in the suit, United States media reported that Cosby admitted to having sex with at least two teenage girls and that “five or six” models were brought to his studio each week while he was filming one of his sitcoms.
Cosby is now free on $1 million bail after being arrested December 30.
Lawyer Brian McMonagle said Constand had chopped and changed certain passages and omitted from the final version having laid down on a bed next to the actor to relax and having visited his home for dinner after the alleged assault.
Cosby’s lawyers are trying to get the case thrown out, arguing that a previous prosecutor a decade ago made a binding promise that the comic would never be charged. He allegedly gave her three pills and wine, saying, “The blue things will take the edge off”.
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That evidence was only made public last year (15), nearly 10 years after the civil dispute was settled, and prompted authorities to re-examine the case and subsequently file the criminal counts Cosby now faces. That evening, Constand was allowed to review her statement. They argue that a former district attorney promised never to prosecute Cosby as a way to induce him to testify in a civil lawsuit brought by Constand in 2005.
