Bill Cosby Argues He’s ‘Legally Blind,' Can’t Identify His Accusers

Bill Cosby’s lawyers argued in court documents filed in Pennsylvania on Thursday, October 27, that the Hollywood icon is “legally blind” and therefore would be unable to identify his accusers.

“No 79-year-old blind man could possibly defend himself against a claim that he sexually assaulted someone he supposedly met once, half a century ago,” the attorneys claim in the filing, according to NBC News.

“Without his eyesight, Mr. Cosby cannot even determine whether he has ever even seen some of his accusers, let alone develop defenses and gather exculpatory evidence,” the documents further state, according to CNN.

NBC News also reports that a footnote on the filing points out that Cosby has registered with a state commission for the blind, and will provide a doctor’s report to the court at the pretrial, which is set to begin on Tuesday, November 1.

At present, the former Cosby Show star faces three charges of felony indecent assault and 10 years in prison stemming from an alleged 2004 incident in which Andrea Constand claims that he drugged and violated her. (In a 2005 statement to police, the Temple University employee alleged that Cosby had invited her to his home, where he gave her two pills to “take the edge off.”)

According to CNN, Cosby’s attorneys also claim in the court documents that prosecutors have “chosen to turn this case into a platform for Mr. Cosby’s other accusers to air their even staler, long-ago time-barred claims that were never reported to authorities.”

Prosecutors for the case have not responded directly to the latest motion, but in previous court filings, attorneys for the state have called out Cosby’s team’s use of “his fame and fortune” to cover up his alleged crimes and “hide his true nature,” according to CNN.

A trial date has tentatively been set for June 5.

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