A Montgomery County judge wants Bill Cosby’s felony sexual assault case to go to trial no later than June 5.
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Cosby was arrested last December on charges he drugged and assaulted a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
They hope to suppress several days of testimony Cosby gave in the accuser’s civil lawsuit a decade ago.
Judge Steven O’Neill revealed Cosby’s lawyers had confirmed rumours that the actor had lost his sight in a letter sent before today’s hearing.
Bill Cosby was back in court on Tuesday; the 79-year-old formerly beloved comedian reportedly required the assistance of a cane and an aide to make it from his vehicle to the Pennsylvania courthouse.
Cosby’s lawyers immediately signaled their intention to fight the request, which they said would represent the “trampling” of his civil rights. However, the said lawyer soon dismissed the assertions saying that it is just a desperate move of Cosby’s defense team.
Prosecutors said that since they reopened the investigation previous year, investigators had interviewed almost 50 women who made similar accusations of drugging and sexual assault against Mr. Cosby.
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.
After giving her three blue pills, Constand says the comedian touched her inapproprately.
His lawyers have said he is blind; the judge asked them to better describe his condition to court staff so that necessary accommodations could be made.
They said they reviewed accusations made against Cosby by about 50 women and concluded 13 should be allowed to testify.
“He complains about racial bias but what about the African American women whom I represent who accuse him of sexual assault or rape and who refuse to remain silent about what they say they have suffered?”
A transcript of the call contained in a court filing shows that Cosby suspected he was being taped after hearing a odd sound.
“I don’t know the names and right now I don’t need to know the names”, O’Neill said. They’re also asking to play a phone call of Cosby during the trial, which was recorded by Constand’s mother.
Those allegations have seen celebrity pals and millions more malign the legend who attained his greatest fame for his role as a lovable obstetrician and family man in the hit 1980s television sitcom The Cosby Show.
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In the intervening years, evidence from a civil case filed by Constand, as well as first-hand accounts from more than 60 women relating similar stories, emerged and reinvigorated interest in prosecution.
