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Bill Cosby faces judge on sexual assault charge; judge claims Cosby is now blind

Bill Cosby faces judge on sexual assault charge; judge claims Cosby is now blind
Posted at 11:21 AM, Sep 06, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-06 15:01:16-04

Bill Cosby is back in a suburban Philadelphia courtroom for a hearing in his felony sexual assault case.

Judge Steven O'Neill said Cosby's lawyer disclosed the 79-year-old comedian's blindness in a letter before Tuesday's pretrial conference.

Cosby held onto an aide's arm Tuesday as he arrived to court dressed in a light blue striped seersucker jacket.

His lawyers are trying to keep some key evidence out of the case.

They hope to suppress several days of testimony Cosby gave in the accuser's lawsuit a decade ago. They also hope to suppress a secretly recorded 2005 phone call Cosby had with the mother of his accuser.

Cosby says his 2004 sexual encounter with Andrea Constand was consensual. The Associated Press doesn't normally name people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, as Constand has done.

Cosby has been fighting the charges since his Dec. 30 arrest.

The judge could set a trial date.