Constand alleges Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her at his home in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania in January 2004. The trial does have a date to start, however: June 5, 2017.
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“The media has accepted guilt by numbers, accepting the assumption of guilt before innocence”, claimed defense lawyer Angela Agrusa, of California, who recently joined the defense team.
Even though the criminal sexual assault case against Bill Cosby involves a single allegation of sexual assault against one alleged victim, former Temple University employee Andrea Constand, Cosby has been accused of sexual assault by at least 50 alleged victims.
One of the prospective witnesses, then an aspiring actress, said Cosby assaulted her at a home near Reno, Nevada in 1984 after telling her agent and her parents that he wanted to mentor her. She reported the incident in 2005. Cosby maintains this episode was consensual and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Risa Vetri Ferman, who was the county district attorney, opted to review Castor’s decision last summer.
In this August 1, 1987 file photo, Andrea Constand poses for a photo in Toronto. That case was settled out of court for an amount of money that remains under seal.
In the conversation, Cosby described the sex act with Constand as “digital penetration” but refused to say what pills he had given her daughter.
Cosby was arrested in December after the investigation into the allegation Constand first brought in 2005 was reopened, following disclosure of the entertainer’s deposition and a stream of new allegations by women going back decades.
Over 50 women have come forward to accuse the fallen star of sexual assault, but Cosby is only facing charges for his conduct with Constand.
Cosby could spend ten years in prison and face millions in fines if convicted.
At the hearing, prosecutors filed a motion asking the judge for permission to call 13 of the almost 50 women who have accused Cosby of sexual assault as witnesses. That will take some time, he said.
Hours before the Tuesday pretrial hearing in Pennsylvania, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele filed a motion to include the testimonies of these 13 women.
The case was used as fodder in last year’s election campaign that pitted Steele against Castor, noted McMonagle. But prosecutors who played the tape in court argued that Cosby said he heard beeps on the call and asked if he was being taped.
In other pretrial maneuvering, the defense said it will file a motion seeking to move the trial outside the county on the grounds that District Attorney Kevin Steele turned the Cosby allegations into a campaign issue during his election previous year.
McMonagle, his voice rising, told the judge that his client was “lied to”.
O’Neill said he would hold hearings on pretrial motions in the upcoming months and “then we will see where we stand”.
A judge hasn’t yet ruled on whether the women will be allowed to testify.
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According to Cosby’s defense, the recorded conversation should be thrown out as evidence because Pennsylvania requires two-party consent to record phone calls.
