NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Bill Cosby’s lawyers will ask a Pennsylvania judge to either throw out his criminal sex assault case or let him face his accuser in court before trial.

Cosby is due back in court near Philadelphia on Thursday to appeal a judge’s decision to send the case to trial. Cosby’s lawyers insist a trial should not be held until accuser Andrea Constand testifies and they get a chance to cross-examine her. But prosecutors say a recent court ruling allowed them to use her police statement at the May preliminary hearing instead.

A lower court judge agreed, and upheld the charges.

Now the defense will ask the trial judge, Steven T. O’Neill, to reconsider the issue. O’Neill could set a trial date if he rules against the defense Thursday.