Bill Cosby’s sex assault trial set for June 2017

DISGRACED entertainer Bill Cosby’s sex assault trial will begin in June 2017, with prosecutors seeking to put more than a dozen other accusers on the stand.

Bill Cosby’s sex assault trial has been set for June 5, 2017. Picture: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

DISGRACED entertainer Bill Cosby will go on trial on June 5 next year, accused of sexually assaulting a woman at his Philadelphia home more than 12 years ago.

The 79-year-old comedian faces up to 10 years in prison and millions in fines if convicted of assaulting Andrea Constand, to whom he allegedly fed pills and wine in 2004.

Judge Steven O’Neill said in a pre-trial hearing in Pennsylvania overnight the trial could begin earlier if schedules permit.

Bill Cosby is led into Courtroom A in the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennslyvania by one of his aides. Picture: Michael Bryant/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, Pool

Prosecutors want 13 other women who have accused Cosby of molesting them to testify at the trial. They said they reviewed accusations made against the actor by about 50 women and concluded 13 should be allowed on the stand. The defence is expected to oppose such testimony.

Lawyers for Cosby disclosed in a letter provided before Tuesday’s hearing that Cosby is blind, and as a result, may need special accommodations at his trial.

Bill Cosby played Dr Heathcliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show. Picture: Alan Singer/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

 

Cosby was arrested in December after the investigation into the allegation Constand first brought in 2005 was reopened, following disclosure of the entertainer’s testimony in a civil lawsuit and a stream of new allegations by women going back decades.

Constand told police that Cosby drugged and molested her.

Legal experts have said a judge might allow as evidence similar allegations against Cosby in which drugs or alcohol were involved.