One week before 78 year old comedian Bill Cosby was scheduled for a preliminary hearing on criminal charges stemming from an alleged 2004 drugging and sexual assault of Andrea Constand, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania today granted him an exstension.
The Pennsylvania court issued an order Tuesday that temporarily stays the lower court proceedings pending a verdict on the local D.A.’s motion to kill the actor’s appeal in the matter.
Court officials confirm to Deadline that this means next Tuesday’s hearing in Judge Steven O’Neill’s Norristown courtroom is canceled for now. On February 12, Cosby and his lawyers filed a direct appeal to the state’s Superior Court to appeal Oneill’s ruling February 3 that the case involving three felony second-degree aggravated indecent assault charges could still go to trial. Yesterday, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele filed a suit asking the higher court to reject Cosby’s appeal attempt until after a trial is over. Steele’s motion Monday is what triggered today’s response from the Superior Court.
With consequences of up to 10 years behind bars and more, the criminal charges were made late last year by Steele to get in under the wire of Pennsylvania’s 12-year statute of limitations. Cosby was arraigned last year and released on $1 million bail without entering a plea. As well as fighting the charges, Cosby went after Constand, her mother, her lawyers and the owners of the National Enquirer in federal court to get the money from a 2006 civil case settlement back.
