Five women who say Bill Cosby sexually assaulted them will be allowed to testify in his retrial, a Pennsylvania judge ruled Thursday.
Earlier this month, prosecutors asked Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill to allow 19 accusers to testify, contending that their accounts are „strikingly similar“ to Constand’s alleged drugging and assault in 2004.
Judge O’Neill ruled that prosecutors can choose five out of a group of eight women who say they were attacked by Cosby since 1982. Prosecutors must notify the court of their five witnesses by March 19, according to O’Neill’s order.
Kelly Johnson, who testified in Cosby’s previous trial, is among the accusers prosecutors can put on the stand in the retrial. The other accusers have not yet been identified.
3,500 jury notices have already gone out, Judge O’Neill said at the pre-trial hearing. The retrial will begin March 29 with jury selection and could last about a month.
