A judge on Tuesday ordered Bill Cosby to stand trial on charges that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2004.
Magisterial District Judge Elizabeth McHugh found there was enough evidence for Cosby to go to trial to defend three counts of felony indecent assault against former Temper University employee Andrea Constand. He could face up to 10 years in jail if convicted.
Constand told Montgomery County, Pa., detectives that Cosby drugged and assaulted her when she visited his home in 2004. According to USA Today, "Cosby gave her three pills that made her dizzy, blurry-eyed and nauseated and left her legs feeling 'like jelly.' She says Cosby touched her sexually, without her consent, while her body was 'frozen.'"
The former Temple employee was the first person to publicly accuse Cosby of sexual assault. He has since been publicly accused by more than 50 women.
Prosecutors initially declined to charge Cosby after Constand went to police, citing insufficient evidence.
Last week, a federal judge unsealed a deposition given by Cosby's wife, Camille Cosby, in February in a different suit filed against the star in Massachusetts. According to the deposition, she told a lawyer she had "no opinion" on whether his admission to acquiring drugs for women he planned to have sex with violated their marriage vows.
Three witnesses spoke at Tuesday's preliminary hearing. Constand did not appear in the courthouse.
Outside the courthouse, Cosby's lawyer, Brian McMonagle, said the ruling is a "travesty of justice" and said that the D.A.'s office "presented...evidence of nothing."
