Today in Norristown, Pennsylvania, a local judge handed down a decision in a pretrial hearing to determine if Bill Cosby would stand trial for three counts of felony indecent assault. The charges stem from a 2004 incident in which Temple University employee Andrea Constand alleges Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in his home. Based on the trial today, the judge ruled that there was enough evidence to justify bringing the case to trial.
This will be the first time Cosby is formally tried in court. Cosby’s attorneys attempted to discredit Constand and her initial statement, attempting to undermine Constand’s character because she was not present for the pretrial hearing. They also pointed out that one of the prosecution’s key witnesses, Katherine Hart of the Montgomery County Detective Bureau, wasn’t present to hear all of Constand’s initial statement to police, about which she was testifying.
Cosby’s next date in court is set for July 20.
This ruling comes on the heels of the revelation that Cosby had, in prior depositions, admitted to having sex with “at least two teen girls.” Those depositions are from 2005 and 2006, right around when Constand first filed a civil suit against him. The transcript from the deposition also finds Cosby once again confirming that he used Quaaludes in these encounters.
Constand was the first woman to publicly accuse Cosby of sexual assault, and since then, more and more women have come out against him, alleging that they were similarly assaulted. As the Washington Post wrote just yesterday, Cosby’s accusers now total 58.