Lawyers for comedian Bill Cosby returned to court to argue that his sexual assault case has drawn too much publicity to allow for a fair criminal trial in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill will hear arguments on what appears to be the only major pretrial issue remaining in Cosby’s sexual assault case, three days after he ruled that prosecutors can call a second accuser as a witness.
The trial is scheduled for June.
Cosby is facing charges that he sexually assaulted Andrea Constand, a former assistant basketball coach at his alma mater Temple University, in 2004.
The case is the only criminal prosecution resulting from accusations against the entertainer by more than four dozen women, though the deluge of allegations has shattered his once family-friendly reputation.
Cosby has denied any wrongdoing and has said his encounter with Constand, like the others, was consensual.
Prosecutors oppose moving the trial but have consented to a change in venire. However, they have balked at Cosby’s suggestion that only a county with more than 1.2 million people can yield a large enough jury pool to ensure fairness.
