Disgraced television legend Bill Cosby will stand trial over accusations that he sexually assaulted a woman after plying her with pills at his Philadelphia home 12 years ago, a judge ruled Tuesday.
The pioneering black comedian, who faces up to 10 years if convicted, kept his glance averted from onlookers as he left a county court house in Pennsylvania, dressed in a grey suit and floral tie, leaning on a member of his entourage.
More than 50 women have publicly alleged sexual abuse at the hands of the former megastar, who attained his greatest fame for his role as a lovable obstetrician and family man in the hit 1980s sitcom “The Cosby Show.” But the 2004 allegations made by Andrea Constand, who worked for Temple University basketball team and now lives in Canada, are the only criminal assault charge brought against him.
Judge Elizabeth McHugh ruled after a three-hour preliminary hearing in Norristown, just outside Philadelphia, that there is enough evidence to justify a trial. “Good luck to you sir,” she told Cosby at the end.
“Thank you,” he replied, making no further comment.
The former star posted bail at $1 million in the case last December but has yet to enter a plea and a trial date has yet to be determined.
If he pleads guilty, he can still avoid the enormous publicity that will come with one of America’s most famous entertainers going on trial.
His reputation was shredded further Tuesday by an admission of having sex with at least two teenage girls, made in his deposition in the Constand suit and revealed by US media.
He also said that “five or six” models were brought to his studio each week while he was filming one of his sitcoms.
Cosby has become a pariah since an avalanche of women accused him of feeding them pills and having sex with them over four decades.
“We’re here because we want to seek the truth. We want to serve justice,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele told reporters.
“We’re going to move forward on the case and consequently look forward to getting a trial date,” he added.
Constand, 43, did not attend Tuesday’s hearing but Steele called as a witness Katherine Hart, a detective who took her original deposition in January 2005 detailing the alleged assault.
Hart read out passages from the deposition in which Constand said Cosby plied her with pills and wine until she was unable to resist his advances at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
After sitting her down on the couch, Constand claimed in the passages read in court, Cosby fondled her breasts, put his fingers in her vagina and put her hand on his erect penis.
But Cosby’s legal team attacked Constand’s credibility.
Lawyer Brian McMonagle said Constand had chopped and changed certain passages and omitted from the final version having laid down on a bed next to the actor to relax and having visited his home for dinner after the alleged assault.
“We’re not at trial,” warned McHugh at one point to Cosby’s team. “Let’s try to keep it limited, Mr McMonagle.” Cosby has admitted giving Constand a pill but said all relations with her were consensual and accused her of lying about the assault.
The case was initially settled by a civil suit in 2006 and Cosby’s lawyers say reopening it has violated an agreement that he would never be prosecuted.
But prosecutors have justified revisiting the case, saying that new evidence came to light last July.
Although dozens of women have publicly accused Cosby of assault, the vast majority of their claims cannot be prosecuted because they have expired under statutes of limitations.
Cosby’s lawyers flatly deny any wrongdoing by the actor and say that he is now almost blind.
