Bill Cosby sexual assault retrial scheduled for November: What to know

Embattled comedian Bill Cosby is scheduled to be retried in November on charges that he drugged and molested a woman in 2004.

Cosby, who turns 80 in July, was ordered Thursday to be ready for trial on Nov. 6.

A judge declared a mistrial on June 17 after a jury failed to reach a verdict when Cosby first went to court for the charges.

Here’s what to know about the case and the mistrial.

Prosecution’s allegations

Cosby is accused of giving Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, pills that left her incapacitated. He then sexually assaulted her in his home, Constand alleges.

Constand and Cosby met while she was the director for the women’s basketball team at Temple, Cosby’s Philadelphia alma mater. The pair “developed what [Constand] believed to be a sincere friendship,” and Constand eventually looked to the older comedian as a mentor, according to court documents.

Constand alleges that Cosby made sexual advances toward her multiple times, and she turned him down. But on one specific visit to his home in January or February 2004, Cosby gave her “three blue pills” that blurred her vision and made her feel as though she was “in and out,” according to court documents.

Cosby then engaged in sexual acts with Constand, while she couldn’t move or speak, that she did not consent to, she said.

Defense counters

Cosby and his lawyers have maintained that any interaction between the pair was consensual.

Despite some back-and-forth, Cosby didn’t end up testifying at his first trial.

Constand sued Cosby in 2005, and the pair settled for an undisclosed amount the next year. In the deposition for that case, Cosby admitted to buying Quaaludes and giving women drugs and alcohol before sex – but he said everything was consensual, including with Constand.

During the trial, Cosby’s defense sought to discredit Constand – pointing to inconsistencies in her story. The defense also noted that Cosby and Constand have spoken over the phone dozens of times since the alleged incident, with Constand initiating the majority of those calls.

First mistrial

Cosby’s trial ended in a mistrial on June 17 after the jury deliberated for more than 52 hours over six days and still couldn’t reach a verdict.

Prosecutors immediately promised to retry Cosby, who is free from prison on a $1 million bail.

“We will reevaluate and review our case and will retry it and move as soon as possible,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said after the decision.

Jurors from the trial are under strict guidance from Judge Steven T. O’Neill about what they can reveal about the case so as not to sway the jurors in the upcoming retrial, according to the New York Times.

Jurors cannot disclose “arguments or comments made, or votes cast.”

FOX NEWS