A Pennsylvania appeals court has rejected Bill Cosby’s attempt to throw out his criminal case because of what he called a decade-old deal not to prosecute him.
The mid-level state superior court ruled Monday that the criminal sex assault case against Cosby can proceed, prompting the district attorney to press for a preliminary hearing date.
Cosby, 78, is facing trial over a 2004 encounter at his home with a then Temple University employee who says she was drugged and molested by the comedian. Cosby says they engaged in consensual sex acts.
Former prosecutor Bruce Castor has said he promised he would never prosecute Cosby and urged him to testify in the woman’s 2005 civil lawsuit. The release of that testimony last year led a new prosecutor to arrest him.
In the lengthy deposition, the long married Cosby acknowledged a series of affairs and said he had gotten quaaludes to give to women he hoped to seduce.
Cosby has not yet entered a plea in the criminal case, and remains free on $1m bail posted after his 30 December arrest.
“We [are] look[ing] forward to the court setting a date so we can present our case,” said Kevin Steele, Montgomery County’s district attorney, in a statement.
Cosby’s lawyers were considering whether to respond to Monday’s ruling, a spokesman said. He could potentially appeal again to the state supreme court, but it’s unclear if that would delay the case, reports The Associated Press.
“He may do that, but the critical question will be whether the supreme court will give him a stay during the review,” said David Rudovsky, a University of Pennsylvania law professor.
Cosby is meanwhile locked in a number of legal battles around the country with women who accuse him of sexual assault or defamation.
He has countersued some of them, including the Pennsylvania accuser. His lawsuit accuses her of breach of contract for talking to police who reopened the case last year, given the confidential settlement of the lawsuit she filed against him after Castor turned down the case.
