Pa. Supreme Court denies last-ditch effort to block Cosby hearing

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court rejected an eleventh-hour attempt by Bill Cosby to delay Tuesday’s scheduled preliminary hearing in his sexual assault case.

According to published reports, Cosby’s lawyers had sought a stay while the court reviewed a previous lower court ruling refusing to dismiss the criminal charges against him. The state Supreme Court rejected the motion Monday.

Cosby, 78, is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple University basketball coach Andrea Constand, now 43, in January 2004 at his home in the Philadelphia suburb of Elkins Park. He has been charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault.

The hearing before Judge Elizabeth McHugh has been delayed since January while his attorneys fought to have the case thrown out.

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USA Today reported Monday that at the end of testimony Tuesday, the judge will decide whether the prosecution, led by Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, has established reasonable cause to believe a crime was committed. If Steele is successful, the judge will set a date for trial.

The Daily Mail reported on Monday that Cosby admitted to having sexual encounters with teenagers in court depositions given in 2005 and 2006. Therese Serignese, then 19, reportedly met Cosby in Las Vegas in 1976, and Cosby admitted that she was one of six models an agency would send his way each week. He said in his deposition he gave her and other girls quaaludes and would have sex with some of them.

These new details emerged a day before Cosby is scheduled to appear in court, and follows accusations by scores of aspiring actresses and other women that the comedian drugged and sexually assaulted them.

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Steele picked up the case late last year after former Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor, Jr. declined to press charges in 2005, citing a lack of material evidence.

Cosby is charged with aggravated indecent assault. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years behind bars.