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 Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill's decision will likely
have a major influence on the second trial of Cosby, 80, who is
accused of attacking Andrea Constand, now 44, at his home near
Philadelphia between Dec. 30, 2003, and Jan. 20, 2004. Jury
selection for the next trial begins on March 29.
The prosecution was limited to calling one other accuser in the
first trial in the Philadelphia suburb of Norristown,
Pennsylvania. It ended in June with a mistrial after the jury
failed to reach a unanimous verdict following six days of
deliberations.
Constand, a former administrator of the women's basketball team
at Temple University in Philadelphia, Cosby's alma mater, is one
of more than 50 women who have accused him of sexual assaults,
some dating back decades.
All the claims but Constand's are too old to be the subject of
criminal prosecution.
Prior to the allegations, Cosby was best known to Americans for
his as the beloved TV dad in the 1980s hit "The Cosby Show." He
has repeatedly denied assaulting anyone, saying all the
encounters were consensual.
"It shows how desperate they are and that this is a very weak
case. Mr. Cosby is innocent of these charges," his spokesman,
Andrew Wyatt, said in a statement.
Prosecutors had sought to call 19 other accusers as witnesses to
show the incident fit a pattern of criminal behavior. Like many
other alleged victims, Constand has said Cosby gave her an
intoxicant that left her disoriented and unable to stop his
advances.
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O'Neill said prosecutors could select five women from the eight
accusers whose allegations are most recent, ranging from 1982 to
1996. Defense lawyers had argued that accusations dating back to
1965 were so old that they would be impossible to counter, given
Cosby's age.
The accusers were not named in court documents, but the descriptions
of their accounts match those of several women who have come
forward, including model and television personality Janice
Dickinson.
A defendant's history usually is not admissible as evidence that he
committed a particular crime.
Cosby's lawyers argued that permitting other accusers to testify
would unfairly prejudice jurors, particularly given the #MeToo
movement, which has encouraged millions of women to share
experiences of sexual abuse or harassment.
(Additional reporting by Joseph Ax in New York; writing by Barbara
Goldberg in New York; editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)
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