Prosecutors said Tuesday that they want 13 other women who said they were intoxicated when Bill Cosby assaulted them to testify at his upcoming felony sex assault trial.
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Cosby, 79, maintains the encounter at his nearby home with former protegé Andrea Constand, 43, was consensual.
Of the almost 60 women who have accused Cosby of drugging and/or raping them in episodes dating back decades, only Constand’s accusations have resulted in criminal charges. In the phone call, he described his sexual encounter with Constand. Without fear of prosecution, Cosby would be forced to testify in Constand’s civil case against him.
Cosby raised the Castor-promise back in February in an effort to get charges tossed.
Cosby has been fighting the charges since his December 30 arrest.
District Attorney Kevin Steele will fight to use both the phone call and his deposition at trial.
They say Cosby only answered the deposition questions because Bruce Castor, the district attorney in 2005, promised to never bring a criminal case based on Constand’s allegations.
The judge presiding over Bill Cosby’s criminal sex assault case is indicating that he wants a trial to start before June.
Lawyers for Cosby disclosed in a letter provided before Tuesday’s hearing that Cosby is blind, and as a result, he may need special accommodations at his trial, Judge Steven O’Neill said.
Steele is pursuing Cosby now because he believes he has new evidence: Cosby’s own words in a deposition he gave in the civil lawsuit Constand filed against him in 2005, which was later settled.
The two sides are still sparring over what evidence will be admitted at trial, including a recording that Constand’s mother made of a phone call with Cosby a year after the alleged assault in which they discussed what drug he had given her daughter. At the time of the call, Gianna Constand was in Canada, Cosby was in California. The Associated Press doesn’t normally name people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, as Constand has done. Prosecutors say he drugged and molested her. The hearing is expected to focus on scheduling matters as a trial date has not yet been set. The tape was to be played in the hearing Tuesday afternoon while the judge mulled over the issue. Inside the courtroom, longtime litigator Brian McMonagle will lead the defense.
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He arrived in a light blue seersucker jacket and held onto an aide’s arm as supporters cheered for him from the sidewalks as he entered the Montgomery County Courthouse.
