Judge Elizabeth McHugh, presiding in a court in Norristown, Pennsylvania, announced the trial date on Tuesday at the close of a preliminary hearing at which Cosby was present.
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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.
Bill Cosby, center, is lead out of Courtroom A in the Montgomery County Courthouse Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016, in Norristown, Pa., by one of his aides after a pre-trial conference in his sexual assault case.
Cosby’s attorney, Brian McMonagle, declared that he will seek to have the trial moved out of Montgomery County, which is in suburban Philadelphia, because the allegations became an issue in last year’s district attorney election. One was a flight attendant. Kevin Steele, the district attorney, said following the hearing that the women had all agreed to appear as witnesses.
The vast majority of the alleged abuses happened too long ago to prosecute, making the Constand case the only criminal charge brought against Cosby.
Cosby’s attorneys denounced the fact that prosecutors have not called Constand anew to testify so that they may cross-examine her, a request that the magistrate has previously denied.
But Judge Steven O’Neill set the June trial date regardless, and said proceedings could begin earlier if schedules permit.
The women, whose names have not been disclosed, would be called to the witness stand in an effort to establish a pattern of past conduct by Cosby, who faces felony charges for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former Temple University women’s basketball team official, in 2004.
Prosecutors said they reviewed accusations made by 50 Cosby accusers and concluded that 13 said they were also drugged or intoxicated and then molested by Cosby.
The case was reopened past year (15) after the actor’s sealed deposition was made public, revealing Cosby had confessed to buying sedatives to give to women he wanted to sleep with and had had extramarital affairs.
Cosby in the conversation described the sex act as “digital penetration” but refused to say what pills he had given her daughter. The woman says she soon lost consciousness and awoke naked as Cosby forced his penis into her mouth.
Prosecutors say they hope to have 13 Cosby accusers testify at the trial.
Cosby’s defenders instead suggest he is a wealthy target for the many women he met during five decades as an A-list celebrity.
Bill Cosby’s legal defense team is blaming racial prejudice and “a barrage of new accusers” for the criminal sex-assault charges lodged against the actor in Pennsylvania.
Sixty women have accused Cosby of rape, sexual assault or sexual harassment, a cavalcade of allegations that has generated headlines around the world and wrecked his reputation.
Allred also represents Judy Huth in a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court that accuses Cosby of underage sexual abuse. On Tuesday, McMonagle argued vigorously that prosecutors should be blocked from introducing evidence gleaned from a taped 2005 phone conversation between Cosby and Constand’s mother, Gianna Constand. Pennsylvania law requires both parties to know that a call is being recorded, but Constand’s mother taped the call in her native Canada, which does not have the same requirement.
Cosby’s legal team mock Constand’s credibility, saying she chopped and changed her evidence, and omitted from the final version lying down on a bed next to the actor and later visiting his home for dinner.
Cosby’s argument that he was unaware of the recording may have been undercut by prosecutors who cited a deposition in which Cosby said he thought it was a possibility that the call was being recorded.
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