Judge again refuses to toss Bill Cosby’s sex-assault case
PHILADELPHIA — A judge on Wednesday denied Bill Cosby’s latest attempt to end his sexual assault case and rejected his request for competency testing of the 13 women who want to testify that they were drugged and violated by the comedian.
Judge Steven O’Neill hasn’t yet ruled on whether prosecutors will be allowed to call the women to the stand or on whether prosecutors can use Cosby’s lurid 2005 deposition from a related lawsuit as evidence.
The 79-year-old entertainer once known as America’s Dad for his role on “The Cosby Show” is scheduled to go on trial by June on charges he drugged and molested Andrea Constand, a former employee of his alma mater, Temple University, in 2004 at his suburban Philadelphia home.
Cosby has said the encounter was consensual. He is free on $1 million bail. He could get 10 years in prison.