Prosecutors ask judge to allow Cosby's accusers to testify

NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Bill Cosby used his fame to gain the trust of women before knocking them out with pills and drinks so he could sexually assault them, prosecutors argued Tuesday as they sought to persuade a judge to allow 13 of his accusers to testify in his upcoming sexual assault trial.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele told a judge he wants the accusers' testimony to show Cosby had a lengthy history of drugging and molesting young women.

"The defendant has engaged, over the course of decades, in a signature pattern of non-consensual sexual assaults on young women who were in an unconscious state due to an intoxicant that the defendant administered to them," Steele argued.

Cosby, who is 79 and has been married for decades, is charged with sexually assaulting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

His lawyers want the accusers barred from taking the stand at his spring trial. The defense is expected to attack the women's credibility and relevance when his lawyers make their arguments on Wednesday.

Judge Steven O'Neill must decide whether to permit all or some of the women to testify under a state law that allows prosecutors to call witnesses of alleged prior bad acts. The accusers include onetime aspiring actresses, a cocktail waitress and a flight attendant and are among 50 women who have come forward with accusations against Cosby since prosecutors reopened the 2004 case last year.

The hearing was testy from the start, with the judge twice warning the lawyers to maintain decorum after courtroom shouting matches that centered on the defense team's practice of publicizing the names of the accusers.

McMonagle said many of the women had already gone public with their allegations.

"These are witnesses in a trial," he argued. "They are not children."

The judge ultimately ruled Cosby's lawyers could identify 11 of the women by name since they'd already told their stories publicly. He said two of the women have remained out of the spotlight and shouldn't be identified in court.

Later, Steele blew up at the defense over the positioning of a projection screen, saying Cosby's lawyers had it placed so the women's names would be seen by dozens of reporters in the courtroom gallery. McMonagle said courtroom staff positioned the screen, but he agreed to remove accusers' names from a planned presentation.

The judge said he'd be forced to call in sheriff's deputies if the lawyers couldn't behave.

But authorities reopened the case last year after scores of women raised similar accusations and after Cosby's damaging deposition testimony from Constand's lawsuit became public. The judge last week said the deposition was fair game at trial, arming prosecutors with Cosby's testimony about his affairs with young women, his use of quaaludes as a seduction tool and his version of the sexual encounter with Constand the night in question.

The judge must walk a fine line in weighing the accusers' testimony, given a 2015 state Supreme Court ruling that threw out a Roman Catholic Church official's child endangerment conviction because the Philadelphia trial judge let too many priest abuse victims testify about the alleged church cover-up.

The defense has questioned the women's motivation, noting many are clients of celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, who has suggested Cosby should put up a $100 million settlement fund for potential sexual assault and defamation claims.

Allred said last week her clients have a duty to testify if the court wants to hear from them. She called the defense's dismissal of their accounts "out of context or just plain wrong."

Cosby, once known as America's Dad for his top-rated family sitcom, "The Cosby Show," which ran from 1984 to 1992, was noticeably more engaged and animated Tuesday than at previous hearings.

He chimed in again a few minutes later when the judge and the lawyers were trying to figure out the location of a hotel mentioned by one accuser.

"The Drake is in Chicago," Cosby interjected.

Cosby greeted security officers with a joke before Tuesday's hearing, quipping, "Don't tase me, bro," as they wanded him on his way into court.