A suburban Philadelphia judge says prosecutors can have other witnesses read Andrea Constand’s police statements into the record at Tuesday’s hearing.
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This case will move forward, McHugh told the crowded courtroom.
Cosby simply said “thank you” to the judge as she wished him luck going forward.
Cosby is now facing three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault involving Andrea Constand, an employee of his alma mater, Temple University.
More than 50 women have alleged sexual abuse by the former megastar, but the Constand case is the only one to have gone to trial. During her shows, she’s used a punching dummy with Cosby’s picture on it while talking about assaults against women.
Constand told detectives that Cosby positioned himself behind her after telling her to lie down on the couch when she became dizzy.
The alleged victim claimed she was given two pills to “take the edge off” and was later sexually assaulted by the actor.
Constand told them she was “in and out” of consciousness after taking three pills that Cosby said were herbal medication. During a pretrial hearing Tuesday, a Pennsylvania judge found enough evidence to proceed with a trial. Cosby said in the deposition the encounter was consensual.
Cosby also is fighting defamation lawsuits across the country for allegedly smearing accusers and is trying to get his homeowners’ insurance to pay his legal bills. “They had 12 years to bring an accuser to confront Mr. Cosby, they chose not to”.
“It’s a preliminary hearing – hearsay is admissible, and we’re just over the next hurdle”, Steele said after the ruling. Cosby’s lawyer, Monique Pressley, entered the government building ahead of him.
Cosby has not entered a plea since his December 30 arrest.
The 78-year-old entertainer waved to people outside as he arrived for the hearing near Philadelphia, but Ms Constand, 43, who now lives in Canada, did not attend.
Constand claimed that Cosby sexually assaulted her in 2004 at his Pennsylvania home after giving her pills and wine, which rendered her unresponsive. Instead her story was heard through statements given to investigators in 2005.
His defense team had argued the case – the only criminal case amid dozens of accusations – shouldn’t be tried. 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. She said she later awoke with her bra askew and did not remember undoing it.
Prosecutors reopened the criminal case past year after dozens of women raised similar claims, and Cosby’s deposition in Constand’s lawsuit surfaced. And that same evening, Constand was allowed to review her statement, and parts of it were crossed out or redacted.
The case was initially settled by a civil suit in 2006 and Cosby’s lawyers say reopening it has violated an agreement that he would never be prosecuted. He is being held on $1 million bail.
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Cosby could get 10 years in prison if convicted in the case, the only criminal charges brought against the comedian out of the barrage of allegations that he drugged and molested dozens of women over five decades.
