Bill Cosby Appears In Court Tuesday

Bill Cosby appeared in Montgomery County court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing on aggravated indecent assault charges.

The motion hearing began at 9:30 a.m. in Norristown. Cosby’s team was seeking to have the charges dismissed before the case goes to trial.

Former District Attorney Bruce Castor was reportedly called to testify as to why he did not pursue charges against Cosby in 2005, when the case was first investigated.

Castor said that Andrea Constand, the former Temple University employee and alleged victim, did not behave like a victim of sexual assault and that there was a “credibility issue,” USA Today reports.

The former DA also noted that his decision to publicly announce that he would not press charges against Cosby prevents Cosby from being charged in the same case, 6 ABC reports. Castor said this is because the announcement took away Cosby’s right to invoke the Fifth Amendment, or the right against self-incrimination.

The hearing ran until after 4 p.m. and is expected to continue on Wednesday.

Castor and current District Attorney Kevin Steele have been battling since Steele defeated Castor in the DA election last fall.

Constand threatened to press defamation charges against Castor. Castor, and now, Cosby’s team, have said that Steele used Cosby as a political prop during the 2015 campaign.

Norristown has been transformed in preparation for the case, which has garnered national media attention. Satellite trucks and crews began to arrive in the area Monday night as members of the media and the general public flooded into the neighborhood around the courthouse.

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Cosby was charged in December in connection with a 2004 assault in Cheltenham Township. The charges were announced by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office.

If convicted, Cosby could face as many as 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine, the District Attorney said.

Authorities say the actor drugged and sexually assaulted Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, at his home more than a decade ago.

According to a statement released by the District Attorney, Cosby urged Constand to drink wine and and take three blue pills.

“Shortly thereafter, the victim became incapacitated, and Cosby led her to a couch. The victim lay down on the couch, and Cosby positioned himself behind her. Cosby then fondled the victim’s breasts, put his hands inside her pants, and penetrated her vagina with his fingers. During the assault, Cosby also put her hand on his erect penis,” the statement from officials said.

The victim told authorities she was unable to move or speak during the alleged assault and felt “frozen” and “paralyzed.”

Constand, the former operations manager for Temple University’s women’s basketball team, first accused Cosby of the assault in 2005. Authorities in Montgomery County did not file charges at that time.

The case was recently reopened and further examination of the evidence prompted the charges, the DA’s office said.

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