Cosby trial to proceed after defense attorneys try to get case thrown out

Actor and comedian Bill Cosby, left, walks into the courtroom with Andrew Wyatt, right, for a pretrial hearing at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on Monday. Photo by David Maialetti/UPI

March 6 (UPI) — Bill Cosby will once again go to trial to face rape accusations after attorneys from both sides attacked each other’s credibility in a Montgomery County, Pa., court hearing on Monday.

Cosby’s team, led by star defense attorney Thomas Mesereau, whose former clients include Michael JacksonMike Tyson and Robert Blake, said the case against Cosby should be thrown out because the prosecutors allegedly destroyed evidence and encouraged Cosby accuser Andrea Constand to lie under oath.

At issue was defense witness Marguerite Jackson, a former coworker of Cosby accuser Andrea Constand. In a statement, Jackson said Constand told her she could extort a celebrity by accusing them of drugging and sexually abusing her, NBC News reported.

The prosecutors’ investigators interviewed Jackson and were successful in getting Jackson barred from testifying during Cosby’s first trial. But Cosby’s defense team accused them of destroying interview notes.

“They went and interviewed her, so they knew what she said completely repudiated Andrea Constand’s statement accusing Mr. Cosby of misconduct,” defense lawyer Kathleen Bliss said.

In response to the defense team’s accusations, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said the defense attorneys were lying and that they should be thrown off the case due to their “incompetent” and “unethical” methods the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

After hearing both legal teams shoot down each other’s credibility, Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neil was unconvinced by either argument and decided to let the case proceed with the attorneys on the docket.

The trial will begin April 2.

Although dozens of women have publicly accused Cosby of sexual abuse, Constand is the only one who has a criminal case against him. That case ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury last June.

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