In his police statement, Cosby said that Constand never said “no” as he put his hand down her trousers.
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“There was no evidence of a crime here”. And if the inconsistencies that plagued this investigation from the beginning continue to plague it now, this case should end immediately.
Kevin R. Steele, the Montgomery County district attorney, said the prosecution met the level of proof needed for the hearing.
“It’s a preliminary hearing”, Steele said.
In another statement, the court heard Cosby claimed she never told him to stop.
Cosby, who has visual impairment, did not speak put listened attentively.
WNPV’s Pete Reinert was in the courtroom when the former detective read Constand’s statements concerning the incident at Cosby’s Cheltenham Township home.
In the statement, Constand said Cosby invited her to his home in 2004 and told her to wear comfortable clothes. In the affidavit, Constand told police that Cosby gave her wine and pills.
Ms Constand, who was working for a basketball team at a Philadelphia university Cosby attended, said she had approached him for career advice.
Mr. Cosby will next appear in court July 20 for a formal arraignment.
“The evidence presented today was evidence of nothing”, attorney Brian McMonagle said.
The 78-year-old pioneering black comedian looked somber in a grey suit, white shirt and floral tie as he held onto the arm of a man in his entourage when walking into the courthouse in Norristown just outside Philadelphia.
At Tuesday’s hearing, a detective read off the initial 2005 statement Constand gave to police.
Another detective finished the questioning that day.
Constand was not present at the hearing, and the judge ruled that she would not have to testify. The defense said Constand crossed out or redacted parts of the statement. He said that there was sexual contact between the two, but it was consensual.
Just a few rows behind his bench sat Gloria Allred, who represents numerous women who have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse.
Reading from a transcript of Andrea Constand’s interview with police in January 2005, the witness said Cosby told her the pills would help her relax and “take the edge off”.
The case was initially brought forward in 2005, but the prosecution chose to not to pursue charges. He promptly reopened it after taking office.
The veteran comedian, who is free on $1 million (£691,000) bail, has been accused of rape, drugging and/or performing inappropriate sex acts by over 50 women since late 2014.
Cosby’s lawyers flatly deny any wrongdoing by the actor.
They are the only criminal charges brought against the comedian out of the barrage of allegations that he drugged and molested dozens of women over five decades.
This hearing was not the showdown that many anticipated – the accused did not get to face his accuser in court. She filed a civil lawsuit in December 2014, contending Cosby sexually abused her in 1974 at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles when she was 15.
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Cosby has become a pariah since an avalanche of women accused him of feeding them pills and having sex with them over four decades.
