Cosby Judge Forbids Testimony by Other Accusers at Sentencing

The judge in the Bill Cosby sexual assault case on Thursday denied a prosecution request to allow testimony at his sentencing hearing from women who say he molested them but whose accusations never led to criminal charges.

It was not immediately clear whether the judge intended to block all testimony from women who had given their accounts at Cosby’s trial in April because he asked for clarification on whether prosecutors intended to bring the women forward as part of the sentencing hearing. He asked them to clarify that point within 24 hours.

Prosecutors in Pennsylvania had asked that an unspecified number of accusers be allowed to tell their stories at the two-day sentencing hearing due to start Monday in Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

During Cosby’s trial this year, in response to a prosecution request, Judge Steven O’Neill of the Court of Common Pleas allowed five other women to testify under Pennsylvania’s “prior bad acts” rule, which admits such evidence if it shows a pattern of behavior by the defendant.

Their testimony, often graphic and emotional, bolstered that of Andrea Constand, the former Temple University employee whom Cosby was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting at his home near Philadelphia in 2004.

Cosby has been similarly accused by dozens of other women over a span of decades. Some were present in the courtroom during the trial, and the prosecution’s request raised the prospect of several more potentially unsettling allegations dominating the hearing next week.

Even if the five women do testify, it will hardly be a spectacle like the one in Michigan in January when, one by one, more than 150 young women spoke in court during the sentencing of Dr. Lawrence Nassar, the former physician for the U.S. gymnastics team. He had entered a guilty plea to seven charges of sexually abusing girls.

Prosecutors in the Cosby case argued that the additional women’s testimony would be relevant because it would provide an accurate assessment of Cosby’s character and the dangers he posed to the community, among other things.

Cosby’s defense team, however, objected to the additional testimony as irrelevant, and in his ruling, O’Neill said he was denying the motion “following an exhaustive review of Pennsylvania case law and having found no authority that would permit this court to consider uncharged conduct.”

On Thursday, he requested that prosecutors clarify whether they intended to present additional testimony from the five “prior bad acts” witnesses at the hearing or “to incorporate their trial testimony into the sentencing proceeding.”

Cosby, 81, was convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault in the Constand case.

He faces up to 10 years in prison on each count, although they may be merged, a decision that would mean a prison term of no more than 10 years, at the most. In addition, his lawyers are likely to stress mitigating factors such as his advanced age and health.

Since the trial in April, Cosby, who has denied sexually abusing any of the women, has been free on $1 million bond, although he is confined to his suburban Philadelphia home and has to wear a GPS monitoring device.

Constand will almost certainly speak at the hearing, probably along with one or two of her family members. Her mother and sister testified at the trial.

Cosby is also allowed to speak although it is not clear whether he will do so. Several other accusers have said they planned to attend the hearing, whether they were allowed to speak or not, although they hoped to have the opportunity to outline their stories.

On Wednesday, in another ruling, O’Neill denied a request by Cosby’s lawyer that he step away from the case, ruling that a defense motion stating he had feuded with a key witness and should recuse himself came too late and was without merit.