Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial tentatively set for June 2017

Bill Cosby.
(Image credit: Pool/Getty Images)

A judge in Pennsylvania ruled Tuesday that Bill Cosby will go to trial on sexual assault charges next June rather than this fall as expected.

Judge Steven O'Neill said Cosby's lead defense lawyer is "extraordinarily overbooked," and that the criminal trial, stemming from an encounter in 2004 with a Temple University employee, has to be moved to June 5, 2017. He made his ruling after a hearing in which Cosby's attorneys tried to argue that key evidence in the case should be thrown out. Earlier in the day, prosecutors filed to include at a future trial the testimony of 13 additional women who have accused Cosby of similar assaults. While the trial's start has been delayed, District Attorney Kevin Steele said he is ready to start choosing a jury on Wednesday.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.