Judge declares Bill Cosby is blind, sets sexual assault trial for June next year

A Pennsylvania judge has said Bill Cosby is blind and special arrangements may have to made for him at his trial on sexual molestation charges, which was tentatively set to start next June.

Presiding over a pre-trial hearing in suburban Philadelphia, Judge Steven O’Neill said the former comedian’s condition was revealed in a letter he had received from his defense lawyers.

Judge O’Neill provisionally set 5 June 2017 for the start of the trial of Mr Cosby, 79, who is charged with drugging and molesting Andrea Constand, a former protege and employee of Temple University in Philadelphia, in his home in 2004. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Ms Constand has contended that Mr Cosby rendered her incapacitated and molested her. He does not deny that he gave her pills and has sex with her but has insisted the encounter was consensual.

Once venerated not just for his comedy but also for a career that seemed to symbolise progress towards a post-racial society, Mr Cosby seemed less frail arriving at the court on Tuesday than on previous occasions, reacting to cheers from fans and engaging with his defense team.

While dozens of women have come forward claiming to have been sexually abused by Mr Cosby, only the claims of Ms Constand have led prosecutors formally to charge him.

The hearing on Tuesday also saw the defense arguing for the exclusion from evidence of a tape-recording of a telephone conversation between the defendant and Ms Constand’s mother after the alleged molestation. Judge O’Neill declined to rule on the matter.

The defence also said they expect to file motions either to have the trial moved to a different court or for jurors to be drawn from a different county on the grounds that the prosecutor in the case had unfairly portrayed their client as a sexual predator while seeking election last year.

The prosecution has indicated, however, that it plans to seek testimony from 13 of the roughly fifty women who have come forward publicly alleging misconduct by the comedian. Bringing the women to the stand is certain to bring defense objections also, however.

The recorded telephone conversation with Ms Constand’s mother centres around her demand that Mr Cosby reveal to her what substances he used to incapacitate her daughter.

“Are you really going to send me on that piece of paper the name of that stuff or not? Or were you joking?” she asks on the tape, transcripts of which have been submitted to the court. He responds, “No, no, no, no, no, we can talk about what you asked for later.” She then goes on: “Okay. Just because I am concerned. I don't know how it affected her and I want to know.”

When District Attorney Kevin Steele filed charges against Mr Cosby last year, he said he was doing so on the basis of new evidence derived from a deposition given by the defendant during a civil filing against him by Ms Constand. At the time, the then prosecutor decided he did not have enough evidence to file charges against him in the case.