Bill Cosby to stand trial for indecent assault

Comedian BillCosby entered a Pennsylvania court earlier today for his first pre-trial hearing related to an indecent assault case brought against him.

Cosby faces three counts of felony indecent assault involving Andrea Constand, an employee at Temple University at the centre of an alleged incident in 2004.

Cosby had attempted to delay the start of the case, but his motion was denied.

Constand claimed that Cosby sexually assaulted her at his Pennsylvania home after giving her pills and wine, which rendered her unresponsive. Cosby was deposed in 2005, and his comments were publicly released last year, where he allegedly admitted to giving Quaaludes to one woman in the past.

Cosby and his legal team have always maintained his encounter with Constand was consensual.

The 78-year-old’s legal team tried to dismiss the charge and asked to disqualify Steele from the case, but both motions were rejected.

Updated: Bill Cosby will stand trial on sexual assault charges after a hearing that hinged on a decade-old police report in which a woman said the comedian gave her three blue pills that put her in a stupor, unable to stop his advances.

District Judge Elizabeth McHugh ruled that prosecutors had sufficient evidence to bring Cosby to trial, and she set his arraignment for July 20, at which time the TV star will enter a plea and a trial date will be set.

Cosby, 78, could get 10 years in prison if convicted.

“Mr. Cosby, good luck to you, sir,” the judge said.

“Thank you,” he replied.

Source: ABC, Hollywood Reporter