Bill Cosby Ordered To Stand Trial In Sex Assault Case
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Bill Cosby has been ordered to stand trial in the lone criminal case lodged amid dozens of accusations that he molested women.
The 78-year-old comedian faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of violating the accuser while she was impaired, unconscious or could not give consent. Cosby insists their sexual encounter at his home over a decade ago was consensual and that she never told him to stop.
District Judge Elizabeth McHugh found probable cause he was involved in a crime. The Montgomery County case is the only criminal charge facing Cosby, though he is also battling defamation, sex-assault and insurance lawsuits in other states.
Earlier, Cosby walked into the Montgomery County courthouse on the arm of an aide, waving to people waiting outside, looking healthier than he did when he was charged in December, and was not carrying a cane this time. His lawyers say Cosby is now legally and functionally blind, CBS2's Kenneth Craig reported.
His accuser, Andrea Constand, chose not to testify at the preliminary hearing. Her attorneys instead read her police statement into the record, CBS2's Alice Gainer reported.
Cosby is accused of molesting the former Temple University athletic department employee at his suburban Philadelphia mansion in 2004. The TV star known as America's Dad could get 10 years in prison if convicted of indecent sexual assault.
Prosecutors said he gave Constand three unidentified blue pills, rendering her unable to cry out or resist. Cosby said it was consensual sexual activity.
Constand said she told Cosby she couldn't "even talk" and "started to panic." She said Cosby told her the pills were herbal medication and that he urged her to sip wine.
On "CBS This Morning," legal analyst Rikki Klieman explained that putting Constand on the stand would have opened her up to questions from the defense.
"Why did she go back to his home after she alleges she was sexually assaulted? Why did it take her a year to bring the complaint?" Klieman said.
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.
It's the only criminal case against him because the statute of limitations has not run out, Craig reported.
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.
"There was no evidence of a crime here. The inconsistencies that plagued this case from the beginning continue to plague it now. This case should end immediately," Brian McMonagle, Cosby's defense attorney, said in court Monday.
Cosby has not entered a plea since his Dec. 30 arrest. He is free on $1 million bail.
He was initially scheduled to be arraigned on July 20, at which time he could enter a formal plea. Instead, he waived his right to appear at that proceeding. That sets the case on a trajectory for trial.
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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