‘Accuser doesn’t have to testify before trial’

Comedian Bill Cosby arrives at Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylv-ania, on Thursday. (Photo: AFP)

A judge on Thursday denied Bill Cosby’s bid to force his sex-assault accuser to testify before trial, ruling prosecutors worked within the law by using police statements as a stand-in for her at his preliminary hearing.

Cosby’s lawyers argued they should’ve been allowed to cross-examine accuser Andrea Constand at the May 24 hearing because her decade-old statements about the 2004 encounter raised more questions than it answered. But Judge Steven T. O’Neill said that a 2013 change in state court rules cleared the way for prosecutors to use those statements and other evidence in lieu of forcing Constand to take the witness stand before trial.

Prosecutors applauded the judge’s decision. “The defence operated around a mistaken belief that they had a right to confront the victim at this stage,” district attorney Kevin Steele told reporters afterward. “They do not.” Cosby’s lawyers said they’d appeal to the state supreme court, which is considering another case involving preliminary hearing testimony.