A judge on Thursday denied Bill Cosby’s bid to force his sex-assault accuser to testify before trial, ruling prosecutors worked within the law by using police statements as a stand-in for her at his preliminary hearing.
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His legal team tried to have the case thrown out on procedural grounds, saying that his rights had been violated when prosecutors did not call Constand to the stand at a pre-trial hearing, meaning she could not be cross-examined.
Prosecutors said there was no reason for Constand to appear during a preliminary hearing because “we’re not going to re-traumatize victims at preliminary hearings”.
“Once again the prosecution had the opportunity and the obligation to place Mr. Cosby’s accuser under oath so that we can search for the truth but they refused”.
“Today, someone who has given so much to so many had his constitutional rights trampled upon once again”.
Actor and comedian Bill Cosby arrives for a Habeas Corpus hearing on sexual assault charges at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 7, 2016.
Steele told the judge he’s using the 2013 rule change to spare Cosby accuser Andrea Constand and other sex crime victims from multiple cross-examinations.
The defence Thursday has asked a Pennsylvania judge to dismiss Cosby’s sex assault case or schedule a new preliminary hearing.
The pioneering black comedian faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted in a Pennsylvania court of assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in the Philadelphia area. Authorities reopened the case previous year after learning he had acknowledged in a deposition that he had given Constand pills and then engaged in sex acts with her.
They considered the dozens of other women who have raised similar claims in the decade since Constand went to police in 2005.
Cosby maintains that any sexual contact he has had with his accusers – including encounters he acknowledges having with Constand – was consensual.
“We’re talking about an allegation of assault that happened over 11 years ago”, said another Cosby defense lawyer, Christopher Tayback, arguing to the court that the statement read during the preliminary hearing was taken so long ago that the officer who recorded it has no recollection of it. But the issue is up for review by the state supreme court, opening the door for Thursday’s challenge.
The Dolan case remains pending after Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler filed a request with the state Supreme Court to hear the county’s appeal of Gilman’s decision. Constand told police the drugs left her semiconscious and unable to move. Kevin Steele said. “If they want to confront the witness, they can confront her at trial”. During his remarks to the judge, Steele compared what happened on the night of the alleged incident to “date rape”.
The man once known as America’s Dad for his beloved portrayal of Dr. Cliff Huxtable on his top-ranked 1980s TV show is fighting Constand and other accusers in civil court, where he has been sued for defamation. Stay with Action News and 6abc.com for more information on this developing story. That’s also what Constand said in her statement to police.
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