NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) - The Latest on a pretrial hearing in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case (all times local):
4:20 p.m.
The judge who’s presiding over Bill Cosby’s sexual assault retrial says he’ll need some time to consider prosecutors’ request to call as many as 19 accusers to the witness stand.
Judge Steven O’Neill on Monday called it an “extraordinarily weighty issue” that he needs time to review.
Cosby is charged with drugging and molesting a woman at his home in 2004. He says the encounter was consensual.
Prosecutors say they need the testimony of other accusers to help bolster Andrea Constand’s credibility. The defense opposes letting the other women testify.
Cosby and his lawyers didn’t comment as they left the courthouse after court adjourned for the day.
Both sides return to court Tuesday for more arguments.
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3:30 p.m.
A judge has denied requests from Bill Cosby’s lawyers to throw out his sexual assault case.
Judge Steven O’Neill on Monday denied a defense motion to dismiss the case on statute of limitations and prosecutorial misconduct grounds.
Cosby’s lawyers argued the alleged assault that led to his arrest couldn’t have happened in January 2004, as accuser Andrea Constand has testified, and falls outside the statute of limitations.
O’Neill said he’d leave that for the jury to decide.
Prosecutors are trying to persuade the judge to allow as many as 19 other accusers to testify as the retrial. They say the testimony is needed to counter the defense team’s “inevitable attacks” on Constand’s credibility.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.
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12:40 p.m.
Bill Cosby’s lawyers want his sexual assault case thrown out, arguing that telephone records, travel itineraries and other evidence show the alleged incident couldn’t have happened when prosecutors say it did.
They’re disputing accuser Andrea Constand’s testimony at Cosby’s first trial last year that the 80-year-old entertainer drugged and molested her at his suburban Philadelphia home in January 2004.
Cosby’s lawyers say the evidence they’ve found shows he wasn’t even in Pennsylvania during that time.
Cosby was arrested on Dec. 30, 2015, meaning any encounter prior to Dec. 30, 2003 would’ve been outside the 12-year statute of limitations.
A jury deadlocked on sexual assault charges last year, setting the stage for a retrial.
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11:20 a.m.
A judge says he’s putting Bill Cosby’s lawyers on notice after they falsely accused prosecutors of hiding or destroying evidence in his sexual assault case.
Judge Steven O’Neill rejected the prosecution’s request Monday to throw Cosby’s new lawyers off the case. Prosecutors argue the lawyers acted recklessly by making the false claim. The judge calls the allegation serious but says he’s reluctant to break up Cosby’s legal team with his retrial looming.
The 80-year-old comedian is charged with drugging and molesting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. Cosby says the encounter was consensual. A jury deadlocked on the case last year, setting the stage for a retrial.
The defense is seeking to have the charges dismissed, saying they are barred by the statute of limitations.
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9:15 a.m.
Bill Cosby has arrived in court for the start of a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case.
The 80-year-old comedian entered a suburban Philadelphia courtroom Monday on the arm of his spokesman.
Cosby’s lawyers are trying to prevent dozens of accusers from testifying at his April 2 sexual assault retrial. Prosecutors want to call as many as 19 women to the witness stand in an attempt to show Cosby engaged in a five-decade pattern of drugging and harming women.
Cosby is charged with assaulting a former Temple University women’s basketball administrator at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. His first trial ended in a hung jury.
Monday’s hearing comes less than two weeks after the death of his 44-year-old daughter from kidney disease.
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10:40 p.m.
Bill Cosby is going to court to stop some of his dozens of accusers from testifying at his April 2 sexual assault retrial.
Cosby’s retooled defense team is due to clash with prosecutors over the potential witnesses at a pretrial hearing on Monday.
Prosecutors want to call as many as 19 women to the witness stand in an attempt to show Cosby engaged in a five-decade pattern of drugging and harming women.
Cosby is only charged in one case, an alleged assault on a former Temple University women’s basketball administrator at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
The 80-year-old entertainer’s first trial ended in a hung jury. A judge had allowed just one other accuser to testify.
Cosby’s lawyers want the same judge to limit the number of accuser witnesses again. They argue some of their claims are “virtually impossible to defend against.”
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