A Pennsylvania judge has denied Bill Cosby’s latest bid to have the sexual assault charges against him thrown out, ruling that the 78-yearold comedian must stand trial in the case. Judge Steven O’Neill rejected Cosby’s arguments that prosecutors violated his rights by refusing to call the accuser, Andrea Constand, as a witness at a preliminary hearing in May, thus shielding her from cross-examination.

“This case shall proceed to trial on those counts,” O’Neill said at the conclusion of a three-hour hearing in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas. Cosby, who used a cane to walk on Thursday, has denied assaulting anyone and has portrayed the encounter with Constand as consensual.

“Today someone who has given so much to so many had his constitutional rights trampled once again,” said Brian McMonagle, a lawyer for Cosby, after O’Neill’s ruling. The proceeding stemmed from a preliminary hearing in May to determine whether enough evidence existed to hold Cosby over for trial.

At that hearing, prosecutors chose not to call Constand as a witness. Instead, two police detectives who took her statement in 2005 testified as to what she told them at the time.

Christopher Tayback, one of Cosby’s lawyers, said prosecutors were using “hearsay evidence” improperly, robbing Cosby of his constitutional right to confront his accuser while relying on an 11-yearold statement plagued with inconsistencies.