It’s been a bad week. (Or month, or year, or world, depending on your personal point of view.) PBS is under fire, transgender rights are under attack, and our current president is at war with The New York Times. Still, here’s a silver lining for us all to try to choke down: At least Bill Cosby got a win!
The beloved comic and TV star and accused serial rapist got some good news in his upcoming trial, in which he’s been charged with three felony charges of second-degree aggravated indecent assault. A judge has ruled that the 13 other women who’ve come forward accusing Cosby of raping them won’t be able to take the stand; instead, just one—a former assistant to one of Cosby’s agents who alleges that the comedian raped her in 1996—will get to testify about what Cosby did to her. That will presumably make it harder for the case’s prosecutor to establish a pattern of “prior bad acts” relating to the crimes he’s been accused of committing in 2004 against Temple University employee Andrea Constand.
Gloria Allred, who represents a number of women who’ve accused Cosby of assaulting them, issued a statement about the decision. “Although I agree with the prosecutor’s previous argument that it would have been important for the jury to hear the testimony of all 13 prior bad act witnesses, I am glad that at least one such witness will be able to testify in this case.” The Cosby camp had no comment on the decision “at this present time.”