Judge Sets Hearing on Bill Cosby's Latest Challenge to Criminal Trial

The entertainer allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted Andrea Constand in 2004

Photo: Todd Korol/Toronto Star/Getty; Gilbert Carrasquillo/WireImage

In Bill Cosby’s latest attempt to get his sexual assault case dismissed, a Pennsylvania judge has scheduled a hearing for July 7, according to court documents.

Judge Steven T. O’Neill also ordered prosecutors to file a response to Cosby’s arguments that the case should be thrown out because at his preliminary hearing last month, his accuser, Andrea Constand, was not present, which would have allowed Cosby with “an opportunity to confront and cross-examine” her, according to court papers.

Instead, a detective read Constand’s statements she gave authorities in January 2005.

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This is the latest in Cosby’s many efforts to get a criminal sexual assault case against him dropped.

A judge ruled in May that Cosby will stand trial for the alleged 2004 drugging and sexual assault of Constand, a former Temple University employee.

Cosby denies her allegations (as well as similar ones from more than 50 women) and says the sexual contact was consensual. But Constand, who is gay and was in a relationship with a woman at the time, says it was not.

O’Neill also scheduled a September 6 pre-trial conference for the case, according to court documents.