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Bill Cosby Defense Plays Race Card, Says Comedian Is Victim Of Racial Bias Related To Sex Assault Charges [Video]

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 14:22 PST, Sep 6, 2016

Bill Cosby was back in court on Tuesday; the 79-year-old formerly beloved comedian reportedly required the assistance of a cane and an aide to make it from his vehicle to the Pennsylvania courthouse. The reason for his court appearance? Cosby was in court for a pretrial hearing related the criminal sexual assault charges levied against him by Andrea Constand. Today, the presiding judge, Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill, ordered that Bill Cosby’s criminal trial has been tentatively scheduled to begin no later than June 5, 2017.

During today’s pretrial hearing, it was announced by the judge that Bill Cosby is blind and will be allowed whatever reasonable accommodations he requires during next summer’s hearing. Good news for Bill Cosby and his legal team.

“An individual who, over the course of decades, intentionally intoxicates women in signature fashion with the intention of sexually assaulting them cannot also be mistaken about whether or not these women are consenting to the sexual abuse.”

In some less positive news, news that could prove insurmountable for Bill Cosby and his defense team during trial, it was also announced that the prosecution is planning to allow 13 of Bill Cosby’s roughly 50 additional alleged sexual assault victims to testify on behalf of the prosecution during the trial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxIw2C1Uv4c

Bill Cosby’s defense team is wholeheartedly fighting this plan of the prosecutions, but Judge O’Neill appears inclined to allow other Cosby’s other alleged victims to share their stories in order to establish a “pattern of behavior” related to Bill Cosby and his treatment of women.

The defense is also trying to prevent a damning recorded conversation between Bill Cosby and the mother of Andrea Constand, as well as a sworn deposition Cosby previously gave in the case (to a former district attorney, the district attorney who lost his job to the current district attorney) from being heard at his sexual assault trial.

The judge is still considering the motions filed by both the prosecution and defense in the Bill Cosby case.

According to Bill Cosby’s lawyers, who spoke from outside the Pennsylvania courthouse, Bill Cosby is the victim of “racial bias.” They complained, reports NBC News, that Bill Cosby has been subjected to a “barrage” of new accusers and sexual assault accusations, accusations which have been made public, while Bill Cosby’s supporters have been silenced and suppressed by the media.

Both social and traditional.

“For Mr. Cosby, this is a version of the ‘shoot now, ask questions later’ approach to judicial justice that you’re seeing in the streets.”

One of the primary targets of Bill Cosby’s legal team’s ire is attorney Gloria Allred. Ms. Allred is an extremely high-profile civil attorney; she often represents victims of social injustice, and she happens to be representing some of Bill Cosby’s alleged victims.

“The time has come to shine a spotlight on the trampling of Mr. Cosby’s civil rights. Her campaign against Mr. Cosby builds on racial bias and prejudice that can pollute the court of public opinion.”

Bill Cosby is currently dealing with criminal sexual assault charges stemming from a sexual assault that allegedly took place in January 2014. His accuser, Andrea Constand, has claimed that Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her at his Pennsylvania home while she was an employee of Temple University.

As People reports, Constand made the decision to report Bill Cosby’s alleged crimes a year later, in January 2005. It was then Andrea told her mother about the flashbacks she was allegedly having about her ordeal. Soon after, she reported Bill Cosby’s alleged assault to the local DA. At some point, he took a deposition from Bill Cosby, but according to Cosby, promised that his sworn deposition would never be used for the purpose of criminal prosecution.

Because of the promise from the former prosecutor, Bill Cosby and his defense team are trying to get the old deposition tossed out as evidence in the current criminal case against him.

Bill Cosby has never denied having sexual relations with Constand. However, he claims that the encounter was consensual. Many of Bill Cosby’s other accusers claim that he drugged them with quaaludes, then sexually assaulted them. However, according to Cosby, he gave Andrea Constand Benadryl before fondling her with her consent.

According to prosecutors, Bill Cosby is lying. They say that it is unlikely that Constand was only under the influence of Benadryl, that she claimed to be suffering from much more severe drugging effects. Also, they assert that she didn’t consent to sexual contact.

“The victim did not consent to any of these acts and reported that she was unable to move or speak and felt ‘frozen’ and ‘paralyzed.”

What do you think? Is it appropriate for Bill Cosby and his defense team to play the race card relative to the sexual assault charges he’s facing?

[Photo by Pool/Getty Images]

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