JUSTICE

Judge Sets Date for Sex-Assault Trial Against Bill Cosby

Sole criminal case brought, amid dozens of rape allegations.

A Pennsylvania judge has set a trial date in the sexual-assault case against Bill Cosby, even as Cosby’s lawyer claims the disgraced comedian is a victim of racial bias. Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill on Tuesday set the tentative trial date for June 5, 2017, noting the trial might even be earlier, as Cosby is blind and special accommodations may be needed. “This case is now 252 days from filing of criminal complaints,” O’Neill said at a pretrial hearing. “There is a right to a speedy trial.” The case against the 79-year-old actor stems from one encounter in 2004 in which Cosby is accused of sexually assaulting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand. Although the trial centers on that incident in particular, prosecutors say they want at least 13 of the 50 other women who’ve accused Cosby of rape to testify. Accusations against Cosby have piled up in recent years, though the statute of limitations has expired for many of the crimes of which he’s accused, making Constand’s claims the only ones to lead to a criminal case so far. Constand, like dozens of other women, says Cosby drugged and raped her, though Cosby claims it was all consensual. Cosby’s defense on Tuesday said the actor would continue to “fight for his rights” amid a campaign against him based on “racial bias and prejudice.”