Cosby wants other accusers to take competency, memory tests
PHILADELPHIA — Bill Cosby’s lawyers accused prosecutors Monday of trying to use the “tainted, unreliable memories of women, now in their senior years” to build their sexual assault case against him and will seek competency hearings on any accusers allowed to testify.
Prosecutors hope to have 13 of about 60 known accusers testify to show a pattern of “prior bad acts” when Cosby, now 79 and blind, goes on trial next summer on charges of drugging and molesting a former Temple University employee in 2004. Courts can allow the testimony if it shows a very specific “signature” crime pattern.
On the eve of a key pretrial hearing Tuesday, Cosby’s lawyers said the women’s memories have been marred by time, media coverage of the case and their friendship with one another. After a memory expert reviewed the women’s statements for the defence, the lawyers dismiss the other accounts as “stories of that night spent partying with a famous celebrity.”
The two sides will face off in court for two days to determine what evidence can be used at the entertainer’s scheduled felony trial in June.