Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial in Pennsylvania ended with a hung jury and a pledge from the prosecutor to retry the embattled comedian at some point. But first, Cosby could end up facing a different accuser on the West Coast, as Deadline reports a Los Angeles Superior Court judge has set a tentative 2018 court date for an alleged assault that took place more than 40 years ago.
The alleged victim, Judy Huth, claims Cosby sexually assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 1974, when she was just 15 years old. Though the statute of limitations has long since passed on a criminal case, Huth is free to file a civil claim, based on the fact that she was a minor at the time of the alleged assault. Huth first filed suit in 2014, seeking damages for sexual battery and emotional distress. Today Judge Craig Kaplan set July 30, 2018 as a tentative start date for the civil proceedings, as well as scheduled a September 14 hearing on a second deposition. It had been postponed while the Pennsylvania trial unfolded, and was something Cosby and his lawyers had long fought against. Deadline notes Cosby was first deposed on the Huth allegations in October 2015, in a session that lasted seven hours.
There’s currently no word on how long the LA-based trial could last, if indeed it moves forward, but Cosby has taken his latest stint in the spotlight to clarify those town hall meetings his spokespeople said he’d be undertaking. You know, the ones in which Cosby rep Andrew Wyatt said the comedian would make sure college athletes know “what they’re facing when they’re hanging out and partying, when they’re doing certain things they shouldn’t be doing,” lest they ruin their futures. Well, Cosby’s issued a statement essentially contradicting his own PR team, though he doesn’t seem to see it that way: “The current propaganda that I am going to conduct a sexual assault tour is false. Any further information about public plans will be given at the appropriate time.” Again, word of the town hall meetings was carried by his own spokespeople, but we all know how opposed Cosby is to taking responsibility for things, even by proxy.