Bill Cosby Loses Latest Attempt To Have 2004 Rape Case Dismissed
The much-accused Bill Cosby might be hoping to get his career going again once his legal matters are behind him, but getting out of a Pennsylvania criminal case over an alleged 2004 sexual assault is not going the way he desires. Just less than two weeks after hearings on the defense’s motions, a judge in the Keystone State today rejected the actor’s latest attempt to wriggle free of the three felony charges of second-degree aggravated indecent assault against former Temple University employee Andrea Constand.
The 79-year-old Cosby still faces up to 10 years behind bars and big fines in a trial that is still scheduled to begin in June 2017.
“And now, this 16th of November 2016, upon consideration of the Defendant’s “Motion to Dismiss The Charges Based On The Deprivation of the Defendant’s Due Process Rights,” filed October 6, 2016, and following a hearing and argument on November 1 and 2, 2016, and upon consideration of the Defendant’s “Supplemental Brief in Support of Motion to Dismiss the Charges Based on the Deprivation of the Defendant’s Due Process Rights,” filed November 12, 2016 it is hereby ORDERED and DECREED that the Motion is DENIED without prejudice,” Judge Steven O’Neill wrote today in his ruling (read it here).
In a move that could see 13 other women who have claimed Cosby sexually assaulted and/or drugged them testify at trial, O’Neil also rejected a defense request that the women take competency tests before being allowed to take the stand for the prosecution. The judge did not issue a ruling yet on whether Cosby’s dense and descriptive 2005 deposition in a civil case brought by Constand can be entered as evidence in the criminal case. In that deposition, was made public in 2015, Cosby among other things admitted to having drugs for the purpose of having sex with women.
While about 60 women have come forward in the last several years to accuse Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting them, the Pennsylvania case is the only criminal one against the actor. Charge were laid by the newly elected D.A of Montgomery County late last year just before the state’s 12-year statute of limitations in such sex crimes expired. Cosby was arraigned December 30 and released on $1 million bail without entering a plea.
Since then, Cosby has tried over and over in O’Neill’s Norristown, PA courtroom and all the way up to the state Supreme Court to get the case dismissed to no avail, and with a changing cast of lawyers.
The next set of pre-trial hearings in the matter are scheduled for December 13-14, with Cosby expected to again be in attendance.
Related stories
Bill Cosby Expects To "Resume" TV & Stand-Up Career Once Rape & Defamation Lawsuits Are Over
Bill Cosby 2004 Rape Trial Could Start "Earlier," Judge Says At PA Hearing - Update
Bill Cosby Lawyers Argue Again That 2005 No-Prosecution Deal Should Assure Rape Case Dismissal
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