A
judge has ruled that comedian Bill Cosby must stand trial on sex assault
charges despite his lawyers making another attempt to have the charges against
him thrown out. Cosby, 78, was all smiles as he walked into court in
Pennsylvania today, but looked crestfallen when he emerged following the
verdict, which his lawyers say they will appeal.
His
defense team had asked Judge Steven T. O'Neill to dismiss the case brought by
Andrea Constand, saying they were denied the opportunity to cross-examine her
at a pretrial hearing.
But
O'Neill rejected their appeal after hearing from district attorney Kevin Steele
that a 2013 rule change means defendants like Cosby have no right to face their
accuser at pretrial hearings.
Steele
told the court that there was no need 'to re-traumatize victims at preliminary
hearings'.
He
added: 'They're saying they want to confront the witness? Let's go to trial and
confront the witness.
'We
want to get this case in front of a jury, and he can have a jury of his peers
decide if he's guilty.'
The
hearing being disputed took place in May this year to establish whether
statements that Constand and Cosby gave to police back in 2005 constituted
probable cause.
During
that hearing, Constand was not called and the prosecution instead relied on the
detectives who had taken her statement to testify about what she said.
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