A date has been set for the preliminary hearing in the sexual assault case against Bill Cosby.
The 78-year-old entertainer is scheduled to appear in court on May 24 to face charges in the alleged 2004 encounter at his Cheltenham mansion.
The hearing, which will be the first substantive evidentiary hearing in the case, was scheduled after a Pennsylvania appellate court on Monday rejected Cosby’s bid to have the charges dismissed.
More than 50 women have accused the entertainer of sexual misconduct, but the Montgomery County case involving former Temple University employee Andrea Constand is the only one that has resulted in criminal charges.
Cosby was charged in December with aggravated indecent assault. Prosecutors say he drugged and assaulted Constand at his home. She reported the incident to police the next year, but then-District Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr. declined to file charges.
Cosby’s lawyers had asked a Superior Court panel to dismiss the case, saying Castor promised Cosby he would never be charged for the encounter. Castor has said he made the non-prosecution deal in part to secure Cosby’s testimony in a civil lawsuit filed by Constand.
The appeal to Superior Court came after a Montgomery County judge in February ruled that the case against Cosby, who remains free on $1 million bail, could proceed.
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