PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A day after Hollywood’s first Oscars of the #MeToo era, Bill Cosby is going to court on Monday to stop some of his dozens of accusers from testifying at his April 2 sexual assault retrial.
Cosby’s retooled defense team, led by former Michael Jackson lawyer Tom Mesereau, is due to clash with prosecutors over the potential witnesses at a pretrial hearing.
Prosecutors raised the prospect of calling as many as 19 women to the witness stand, including model Janice Dickinson, in an attempt to show that an alleged 2004 assault that led to Cosby’s only criminal charges was actually part of a five-decade pattern of him drugging and harming women.
Jurors did not have that context when they ended Cosby’s first trial last year in a deadlock. A judge allowed just one other accuser’s testimony but barred any mention of about 60 others who have come forward to accuse Cosby in recent years.
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