May 24 preliminary hearing set for Cosby in sex assault case

    Bill Cosby arrives at Montgomery County Court House

    Bill Cosby arrives at Montgomery County Court House

    A date has been set for a preliminary hearing in the criminal sex assault case against Bill Cosby.

    The married comedian will appear May 24 in the Montgomery County Courthouse to face charges over a 2004 encounter at his home with a then-Temple University employee. The woman says she was drugged and molested. Cosby says they engaged in consensual sex acts.

    Tuesday’s hearing announcement comes a day after an appeals court rejected Cosby’s attempt to throw out his case because of what he called a decade-old deal not to prosecute him.

    A former prosecutor has said he promised to never prosecute Cosby and urged him to testify in the woman’s lawsuit.

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    The release of that testimony last year led a new prosecutor to arrest him.

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