Comedian Bill Cosby appeared in court today in a case in which he is charged with sexual assault. USA Today reports that Cosby, 78, was in court in Norristown, Pa., “hoping to persuade a judge to either throw out his criminal sex assault case or let him grill his accuser in court before trial.”

“Cosby arrived at the courthouse here in suburban Philadelphia Thursday afternoon to appeal Judge Steven O’Neill’s decision in May to send Cosby to trial on charges of aggravated sexual assault against accuser Andrea Constand stemming from an encounter between the two in 2004,” the story reports.

The report adds: “Cosby’s lawyers insist a trial should not be held until Constand gets on the stand and they get a chance to cross-examine her. Constand did not testify at the May preliminary hearing; instead, prosecutors cited a recent court ruling they believe allowed them to use her police statement taken more than a decade after the encounter.”

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele argued that prosecutors do not want to put Constand on the stand for a preliminary hearing, saying: “It’s our position that we’re not going to retraumatize victims.”

The judge ruled this afternoon that there was enough evidence to try Cosby even though his lawyers did not have a chance to cross-examine Constand at a preliminary hearing, USA Today reports.