“That is to say, an individual who, over the course of decades, intentionally intoxicates women in a signature fashion with the intention of sexually assaulting them can not also be mistaken about whether or not those women are consenting to the sexual abuse”.
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A trial date of no later than June 5, 2017 was set during a pretrial hearing in a Pennsylvania courtroom on Tuesday.
The three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault against Cosby stem from an alleged 2004 incident, in which accuser Andrea Constand, an employee of Temple University at the time, claims Cosby drugged and molested her.
In her original deposition in January 2005, Constand said Cosby plied her with pills and wine, then sat her down on a couch, where the actor allegedly fondled her breasts, put his fingers in her vagina and put her hand on his erect penis.
Bill Cosby, center left, listens to his lawyer Brian McMonagle, center, speak with members of the media as they depart after a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016.
Allred wrote in a statement that several of the women she represents are African-American and she thinks their voices should be heard.
Cosby has so far lost his efforts to have the charges thrown out.
Lastly, there was a report that the defense want to raise a motion to move the trial outside the county because Kevin Steele, a District Attorney, used the Bill Cosby’s sexual assault allegation as an issue in the campaign. Prosecutors, however, are allowed on rare occasions to use evidence or witnesses to prove a defendant committed a crime as part of a longstanding pattern of behavior.
The judge did declare Cosby blind – he was seen being guided into and out of court.
In the conversation, Cosby described the sex act with Constand as “digital penetration” but refused to say what pills he had given her daughter.
Judge O’Neill will issue a ruling on the request during a separate hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.
Allred responded back, calling Cosby “desperate” and trying to “portray himself as a victim”.
Steele argues in the motion that under Pennsylvania Rule of Evidence 404 (b), which details if and when “prior bad acts” may be included as testimony during a criminal trial, these victim accounts serve two purposes.
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It is unclear whether Allred represents any of the 13 women prosecutors are seeking to call as witnesses against Cosby.
