Photo courtesy of The Huffington Post
Summary: On Tuesday, a judge set a date for Cosby’s criminal trial.
Bill Cosby may be facing several civil lawsuits in connection with drug and rape allegations, but only one case is in criminal court. On Tuesday, a Philadelphia judge scheduled his criminal trial for June 5, 2017.
The Washington Post calculated that nearly 60 women has accused the once popular comedian of sexual assault over the years. While some of those women are fighting with him in civil cases for money, former Temple University employee Andrea Constand may be the only one who can put him behind bars.
Constand said in 2004 that she had went to Cosby’s home in a Pennsylvania suburb for career advice and that he had given her pills and wine before having sex with her. She said that she was so incapacitated that she was unable to consent. Cosby was charged with three counts of felony aggravated indecent assault.
Cosby has pled not guilty to all charges. His legal team has requested a change of venue due to the heavy media scrutiny of the case, but that ask was denied.
The Philadelphia district attorney has asked Judge Steven O’Neill to allow the testimony of 13 women who say Cosby raped them from 1964 to 2002. In his motion filed, he said that it was clear Cosby had a “pattern of serial sexual abuse.”
O’Neill did not rule on allowing the women to testify, nor did he rule on whether or not to throw out a 2005 un-sealed Cosby deposition in which he admitted to giving women Quaaludes before sex. In his 2005 deposition, Cosby said that the sex he had with Constand was consensual.
Cosby’s lawyers said that his 2005 deposition violated his right against self-incrimination. Cosby said he gave the testimony only because the district attorney at the time promised to never bring up a criminal charge. In 2006, Cosby and Constand settled the case for an undisclosed sum.
Philadelphia’s current district attorney Kevin Steele said that deals like that work for witnesses but not a defendant.
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Source: CNN