Comedian Bill Cosby's sexual assault retrial has been rescheduled to April 2, 2018, in Pennsylvania, a judge ruled on Sept. 15.
Cosby's charges for drugging and molesting a woman more than a decade ago has been pushed back by seven months, following a request from Cosby's legal team in order to give them more time to prepare.
Montgomery County Judge Steven O'Neill ruled in favor of the request and scheduled the retrial in 2018.
The first trial of 80-year-old comedian ended in June after the jury failed to reach a verdict, even after deliberating for more than 50 hours.
"The Cosby Show" star is accused of giving former Temple University employee Andrea Constand a number of pills that left the complainant incapacitated, according to Fox News. Cosby then allegedly performed sexual acts on the woman while she was unable to provide consent.
The two first met while Constand was Temple University's women's basketball team's director. Temple is Cosby's alma mater.
Court documents stated that the two "developed what [Constand] believed to be a sincere friendship," and that Constand even began looking to Cosby as a mentor.
The documents also stated that Cosby made sexual advances toward her multiple times, all of which she turned down. It was on a January or February day in 2004 that the comedian gave the three blue pills that blurred her vision and made her feel as if she was "in and out of" consciousness.
More than 60 women have since come forward to accuse Cosby of sexual misconduct, but only Constand's case falls within the statute of limitations, hence the criminal case against the defendant.
The comedian's reputation, born of and built from the 1980s comedy "The Cosby Show," has long been damaged by these allegations.
Cosby maintained, however, that he is not guilty of any sexual misconduct and that all encounters with his accusers have been consensual.
Reuters reported that Cosby will be aided by a new defense team for his retrial, to be led by Los Angeles lawyer Tom Mesereau, best known for defending Michael Jackson from charges of child sexual abuse in 2005.
