U.S. actor, Bill Cosby’s retrial on charges of sexual assault has been scheduled for April 2, 2018, the Pennsylvania Court said on Friday.
The 80-year-old Cosby is charged with three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting accuser, Andrea Constand, at his home in 2004.
Cosby already stood trial in June but Judge Steven O’Neill declared a mistrial after the jury was unable to agree on a verdict.
The actor hired new lawyers for the retrial, including Tom Mesereau, who is best-known for his part in Michael Jackson’s acquittal on child molestation charges in 2005.
The retrial was originally due to start in November, but Cosby’s new legal team requested a delay to give them time to catch up on the case.
The trial would take place in Norristown, Pennsylvania.
Unlike Cosby’s previous lawyers, his new legal team has not requested that jurors be selected from outside Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where Cosby lives.
More than 50 women have come forward to publicly accuse Cosby of drugging and raping them, but the trial is focused solely on accusations from Constand, a former employee at Temple University in Philadelphia, Cosby’s alma mater.
She alleged that Cosby gave her pills and sexually assaulted her as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
The African-American actor started his career as a stand-up comic in the 1960s.
His biggest success was the television sitcom “The Cosby Show,’’ which ran from 1984 to 1992, in which he played obstetrician Cliff Huxtable, the wise and loveable patriarch of a large, affluent black family. (dpa/NAN)
