Bill Cosby has appeared in court for the start of a pre-trial hearing in his sexual assault case.
The 80-year-old comedian entered a suburban Philadelphia courtroom on the arm of his spokesman.
Cosby’s lawyers are trying to prevent dozens of accusers from giving evidence at his April 2 sexual assault retrial. Prosecutors want to call as many as 19 women to the witness box in an attempt to show Cosby engaged in a five-decade pattern of drugging and harming women.
Cosby is charged with assaulting a former Temple University women’s basketball administrator at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. His first trial ended in a hung jury.
Monday’s hearing comes less than two weeks after the death of his 44-year-old daughter from kidney disease.
Bill Cosby in court for hearing ahead of ‘sexual assault’ retrial
