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Bill
Cosby
ordered
to stand
trial in
decade-old
sex case
By
MARYCLAIRE
DALE and
MICHAEL
R. SISAK
Associated
Press
NORRISTOWN,
PA -
Bill
Cosby
was
ordered
Tuesday
to 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 in
the lone
criminal
case
brought
against
him out
of the
barrage
of
allegations
that he
drugged
and
molested
dozens
of
women.
No
immediate
trial
date was
set.
Cosby,
78,
could
get 10
years in
prison
if
convicted.
"Mr.
Cosby,
good
luck to
you,
sir,"
the
judge
said.
"Thank
you,"
said the
former
TV star,
who
stood up
briskly
after
the
ruling
and
seemed
chipper
and
unsurprised.
He
hugged
one of
his
lawyers.
The
judge
set an
arraignment
for July
20, at
which
time he
could
enter a
plea.
But
Cosby
waived
his
right to
appear
at that
proceeding.
That
sets the
case on
a
trajectory
for
trial.
The
hearing
was not
the
face-to-face
confrontation
between
accuser
and
accused
that
some had
anticipated:
Andrea
Constand,
the
former
Temple
University
employee
who said
Cosby
violated
her at
his
suburban
Philadelphia
mansion
in 2004,
was not
in the
courtroom,
and the
judge
ruled
that she
would
not have
to
testify.
Instead,
prosecutors
had
portions
of her
2005
statement
to
police
read
into the
record.
While
authorities
in
recent
months
have
paraphrased
her
account
and
quoted
fragments,
this was
apparently
the
first
time
that
large
sections
of her
statement
- or
Cosby's,
for that
matter -
were
made
public.
Constand
told
police
in 2005
that the
comedian
penetrated
her with
his
fingers
after
giving
her
pills
that
made her
legs
"rubbery"
and
"like
jelly."
''Everything
was
blurry
and
dizzy. I
felt
nauseous,"
she
said.
"I told
him, 'I
can't
even
talk,
Mr.
Cosby.'
I
started
to
panic,"
she told
police.
In her
statement,
she said
Cosby
told her
the
pills
were
herbal
medication.
She said
he also
urged
her to
sip wine
even
though
she said
had not
eaten
and
didn't
want to
drink.
Constand
told
detectives
that
Cosby
positioned
himself
behind
her
after
telling
her to
lie down
on the
couch.
She said
she
awoke
with her
bra
askew
and did
not
remember
undoing
it.
Cosby's
lawyers
argued
unsuccessfully
that
reading
Constand's
statement
instead
of
putting
her on
the
stand
would be
hearsay
and
would
deprive
him of
his
right to
confront
his
accuser.
Such
testimony
from law
enforcement
officers
is
common
practice
at
preliminary
hearings
in
Pennsylvania,
which
have a
far
lower
burden
of proof
than
trials.
In his
own 2005
statement
to
police,
excerpts
of which
were
also
read in
court,
Cosby
portrayed
it as
consensual
sexual
activity,
saying
Constand
never
said
"no" as
he put
his hand
down her
pants. A
seemingly
relaxed
Cosby
said he
and
Constand
had had
other
"petting"
sessions
before.
Cosby
also
told
police
the
pills
were
over-the-counter
Benadryl
that he
takes to
help him
sleep.
He said
he gave
Constand
one and
a half
pills
and she
did not
ask what
they
were.
During
Tuesday's
hearing,
Cosby
attorney
Brian
McMonagle
questioned
why
Constand
continued
to see
the
comedian
and even
returned
to the
house to
meet
with him
after
the
alleged
assault.
Detective
Katherine
Hart
testified
that
Constand
told
detectives
in 2005
that she
went
back to
Cosby's
home to
confront
him
about
what had
happened.
Constand
also
told
detectives
she
contacted
Cosby
after
moving
to
Canada
because
she
wanted
tickets
to one
of his
comedy
shows.
McMonagle
said
Constand
brought
a
present
for
Cosby.
Earlier
Tuesday,
the
comedian
walked
into the
courthouse
on the
arm of
an aide,
waving
to
people
waiting
outside.
He
looked
healthier
than he
did when
he was
charged
in
December,
and was
not
carrying
a cane
this
time.
Prosecutors
reopened
the case
last
year
after
dozens
of women
leveled
similar
allegations
and
after
Cosby's
sealed
deposition
in
Constand's
lawsuit
was made
public.
He
settled
her
lawsuit
for an
undisclosed
sum in
2006
after
testifying
about
his
extramarital
affairs,
his use
of
quaaludes
to
seduce
women
and his
efforts
to hide
payments
to
former
lovers
from his
wife.
The
testimony
and the
barrage
of
allegations
have all
but
destroyed
Cosby's
nice-guy
image
from
TV's
"Cosby
Show."
Cosby's
lawyers
are
trying
to get
the case
thrown
out,
arguing
that a
previous
prosecutor
a decade
ago made
a
binding
promise
that the
comic
would
never be
charged.
On
Monday,
Pennsylvania's
Supreme
Court
rejected
a
request
to delay
the
preliminary
hearing
while
Cosby
pursues
a
dismissal.
Cosby
has not
entered
a plea
since
his Dec.
30
arrest.
He is
free on
$1
million
bail.
He is
also
fighting
defamation
lawsuits
across
the
country
for
allegedly
branding
his
accusers
liars
and is
trying
to get
his
homeowner
insurance
to pay
his
legal
bills.
Constand
is now a
massage
therapist
in
Toronto.
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