Comedian Bill Cosby will still face trial in relation to sexual assault of a lesbian, despite a challenge from his lawyers to dismiss the case because his accuser was not present for questioning at his May preliminary hearing.
Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neill made the ruling July 7 after a tedious three-hour special hearing. Cosby was in attendance, though he did not speak or react.
“I’m going to continue to move it forward,” O’Neill said of the case.
It’s likely further motions from Cosby’s defense will delay a trial.
Legal wrangling over the admissibility of hearsay evidence dominated the arguments this week, highlighted by back-and-forth over a state rule of criminal procedure that details appropriate uses of hearsay evidence.
O’Neill said he wasn’t persuaded to contradict the rule’s outline that hearsay evidence is sufficient at a preliminary hearing.
Cosby’s lawyers said he was denied his right to due process and his right to confront Andrea Constand, the lesbian former employee of Temple University who alleges Cosby drugged and digitally penetrated her at his Cheltenham Township home in 2004. At Cosby’s preliminary hearing, detectives read parts of Constand’s statements from 2005 into the record as evidence for Cosby’s case to move to trial.
“We know they can use hearsay; the question is what the limits are,” said Christopher Tayback, one of Cosby’s lawyers.
He cited examples like a chemist’s blood analysis and proofs of ownership. He said hearsay was meant to support technical elements of a case.
Prosecutors said it’s “exclusively a trial right” to confront a witness, adding they did not want to traumatize Constand by having her retell her assault story at multiple hearings. Detectives in May said they had recently spoken to Constand and she agreed to testify at trial.
“Justice has been delayed too long,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele told reporters outside the courthouse. “We are looking forward to getting into trial where the defendant can then confront his accuser. That’s the stage that he would be able to do that. If I was able to, I’d pick a jury tomorrow on this case.”
Also addressing reporters outside the courthouse, Brian J. McMonagle, one of Cosby’s lawyers, said the defense would take the case to the state’s highest court if necessary to prove Cosby’s innocence and restore his name.
“We have always protected the liberty of our citizens when facing accusations like these by examinations under oath,” McMonagle said. “But not today. Today, someone who has given so much to so many had his constitutional rights trampled upon.”
Cosby remains free after posting a portion of his $1 million bail. Constand now lives in Toronto, Canada, near where she grew up.
