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| Bill Cosby arrives for a pretrial hearing in his sexual assault case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa., Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. |
PHILADELPHIA
(AP) -- Prosecutors hoping to paint actor Bill Cosby as a serial
predator at his upcoming sexual assault trial sought Tuesday to put on
testimony from 13 other women who say Cosby gave them quaaludes, other
drugs or alcohol before molesting them.
The
criminal case against the 79-year-old entertainer involves a single 2004
encounter at his home near Philadelphia with former Temple University
employee Andrea Constand. The presiding judge at a hearing Tuesday vowed
to start the trial by June 5.
However,
Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill did not immediately rule on any
of the pretrial disputes over evidence, including the prosecution effort
to call other women as witnesses. Under Pennsylvania law, they could
be allowed to testify to show an alleged pattern of behavior, even if no
charges were ever filed.
Prosecutors said
they reviewed accusations made by 50 Cosby accusers and concluded that
13 said they were also drugged or intoxicated and then molested by
Cosby. One woman said she declined his offer of quaaludes but accepted
Champagne that she believed was spiked. She later woke up naked in a
hotel room and said she had been sexually assaulted. Another said she
took quaaludes from him, while a third said she believed her drink was
spiked with the powerful, now-banned sedative.
The defense is expected to oppose any testimony from other accusers.
The
defense will also ask to have the trial moved to another county, given
that the decision over whether Cosby should be arrested became a
flashpoint in last fall's election for district attorney. Cosby was
arrested on Dec. 30, as incoming prosecutor Kevin Steele eyed the
approaching 12-year deadline to file felony charges.
Constand told police that Cosby gave her three unmarked pills and then molested her as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
Cosby's
lawyers meanwhile asked the judge Tuesday to suppress a 2005 telephone
conversation recorded by Constand's mother in Toronto. Cosby had called
her from California. The defense said the call violated Pennsylvania's
two-party consent law on wiretaps. But prosecutors who played the tape
in court argued that
Cosby said he heard beeps on the call and asked if
he was being taped. Gianna Constand denied it.
Cosby
in the conversation described the sex act as "digital penetration" but
refused to say what pills he had given her daughter. In his deposition,
he later said he feared sounding like "a dirty old man" on the call.
Steele
will fight to use both the phone call and Cosby's potentially damaging
deposition from Constand's sexual battery lawsuit. Cosby settled the
suit after four days of questioning. He acknowledged having a sexual
encounter with Constand, but said it was consensual. He also admitted to
a string of extramarital affairs and sexual "rendezvous," some with
women in their late teens and early 20s.
Cosby
was arrested in December after the investigation into the allegation
Constand first brought in 2005 was reopened, following disclosure of the
entertainer's deposition and a stream of new allegations by women going
back decades.
Cosby looked noticeably
healthier Tuesday than he has at earlier hearings, although his lawyers
told the judge that he is blind. O'Neill offered whatever accommodations
he might need at trial, but the defense didn't immediately ask for any.
Cosby
clutched an aide's arm as he walked, but his eyes appeared less milky
and he seemed more engaged and animated as he spoke with his legal team.
As
O'Neill pushed for a trial date, lead defense lawyer Brian McMonagle of
Philadelphia said he has other trials booked until June.
Cosby has replaced one top-tier Los Angeles law firm with another on his defense team, the second such switch in about a year.
Cosby has so far lost his efforts to have the charges thrown out.
Cosby
became known as "America's Dad" for his top-rated show on family life
that ran from 1984 to 1992.
He had been in the limelight since the early
1960s, when the Philadelphian was tapped to star in "I Spy," becoming
the rare black actor to star in a network TV show at the time.
The women who accuse him of sexual misconduct for nearly that long say the charges were a long time coming.
Cosby's defenders instead suggest he is a wealthy target for the many women he met during five decades as an A-list celebrity.
Defense
lawyer Angela Agrusa told reporters after the hearing that the accusers
have been "paraded" before the press by lawyer Gloria Allred and
others, without their accounts of abuse being investigated.
"We have seen a barrage of new accusers claiming, 'Me too,'" Agrusa said.
Cosby
spokesman Andrew Wyatt brought race into the equation, saying Allred
and others have trampled on Cosby's civil rights. Many of the accusers,
including Constand, are white.
"Mr. Cosby is
no stranger to discrimination and racial hatred, and throughout his
career Mr. Cosby has always used his voice and his celebrity to
highlight the commonalities and has portrayed the differences that are
not negative - no matter the race, gender and religion of a person," he
said in a statement.
Allred rejected Wyatt's
accusations, accusing Cosby of becoming desperate in his defense of the
case, and stating that several of the alleged victims she represents are
African American.
"With his latest pathetic
attack on me, he unsuccessfully tries to portray himself as a victim
rather than as a defendant in a criminal case accused of aggravated
indecent sexual assault," Allred wrote in a statement. She said the case
is not about racial bias, but whether Cosby "has committed acts of
gender sexual violence."
It is unclear whether
Allred represents any of the 13 women prosecutors are seeking to call
as witnesses against Cosby. She has held numerous press conferences with
women accusing Cosby of sexual abuse and lobbied for legislative hanges in several states.
Allred also represents Judy Huth in a civil lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court that accuses Cosby of underage sexual abuse.
