Cosby lawyers make new bid to dismiss case

Taking a step they had telegraphed, Bill Cosby's lawyers moved Wednesday to have the sexual assault case against him dismissed because prosecutors failed to present his accuser, Andrea Constand, at his preliminary hearing last month.

By relying on detectives to testify and read Constand's 2005 statements to police instead of calling her to the witness stand, prosecutors denied Cosby "an opportunity to confront and cross-examine his accuser," the defense team wrote in a bid to have the charges dropped or receive a new preliminary hearing.

"The district attorney's win-at-all-costs tactics in this matter are stretching the rules past the breaking point," Cosby's defense team wrote.

In introducing only her past statements to police as evidence, prosecutors relied on a relatively new option in state law, one that is being challenged in higher courts. Even as she allowed them to do so, District Judge Elizabeth McHugh called it a "risky" move.

Still, the hearing ended with McHugh's ruling that the evidence was sufficient to hold Cosby for trial on a charge of aggravated indecent assault stemming from Constand's claim that he drugged and assaulted her at his Cheltenham mansion in 2004.

Cosby previously tried to have the case dismissed by claiming that former District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. promised in 2005 that he would never face charges for his sexual encounter with Constand.

After Judge Steven T. O'Neill ruled against Cosby on that matter, his lawyers attempted to appeal the decision to the state Superior and Supreme Courts.

Cosby, 78, is still awaiting a trial date.