Judge makes jury ruling
NORRISTOWN — A sequestered jury from an outside county will decide the sexual assault case against Bill Cosby, a suburban Philadelphia judge ruled Monday, rejecting a defense request to move the trial itself because of worldwide media reports that the actor’s lawyers say brand him a “serial rapist.”
Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill will oversee a June 5 trial over charges that Cosby drugged and molested a former Temple University employee in 2004.
O’Neill’s ruling came after lawyers for the 79-year-old TV star argued that his trial should be moved to Philadelphia or the Pittsburgh area. The larger, more diverse population would make it easier to find unbiased jurors, lawyer Brian McMonagle argued, but even then, he said, there was no guarantee that Cosby could get a fair hearing.
“Unless you’ve been living under a rock, the message that has been promoted, in insidious fashion, is that Bill Cosby is guilty, and that Bill Cosby is a serial rapist,” McMonagle said. “I do not believe that there’s a place anywhere in this country now where he can receive a fair trial.”
Prosecutors accused the defense of trying to shop for a jury.
In a court filing, District Attorney Kevin Steele called the pretrial publicity argument “a red herring.” He said Cosby couldn’t expect to find a jury anywhere that is “oblivious” to the dozens of sex assault accusations lodged against him by Andrea Constand and other accusers.
“He’s not entitled to a jury that is ignorant of the facts surrounding his case,” Steele wrote. “The publicity that necessarily follows the rich and famous cannot insulate them from prosecution.”
Prosecutors did not object to bringing an outside jury to the courthouse in Norristown, but fought the bid to move the trial.
They told O’Neill they could surely find a dozen unbiased jurors in counties with fewer than 1 million people, the size sought by the defense.
“It’s not just short on the law, but short on logic,” Assistant District Attorney M. Stewart Ryan argued Monday.
Cosby has pleaded not guilty to charges that he sexually assaulted Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home. The Associated Press doesn’t typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they have come forward publicly, as Constand has done.
