Seven jurors seated for Bill Cosby retrial

NORRISTOWN >> Seven Montgomery County residents – four men and three women – have been seated for the sexual assault retrial of actor and comedian Bill Cosby.

Those jurors include three white men, ranging in age from their 20s to 50s; two white women, believed to be in their 40s or 50s; one African American man in his 30s; and one African American woman in her 50s.

One juror was selected on Monday and six more were seated during Tuesday’s selection process.

Judge Steven T. O’Neill is seeking a panel of 12 jurors and six alternate jurors. Testimony at the retrial won’t begin before April 9, officials said. Once the entire panel is selected, jurors will be sequestered at an area hotel for the duration of the trial.

The seven jurors seated so far were drawn from 120 potential jurors that reported to the courthouse on Monday for the selection process.

The prosecution and defense each have seven peremptory challenges they can use to excuse a juror, other than for cause, during the selection process. By day’s end Tuesday, the defense team had utilized five and prosecutors had utilized two.

Tuesday ended with Judge O’Neill addressing a second group of 120 jurors summoned to the courthouse for the selection process.

During that phase, the judge asked potential jurors a variety of general questions, encompassing such things as whether or not they or a family member was ever a victim of sexual assault, whether or not they had knowledge about the #MeToo movement and whether or not they had read or viewed news reports about the Cosby case.

The judge asked 12 of those 120 jurors to return to court on Wednesday to be questioned individually for potential selection for Cosby’s jury.

“This is high civic service,” O’Neill addressed the jurors, thanking them for their “patience and understanding” throughout the tedious selection process.

William Henry Cosby Jr., 80, as his name appears on charging documents, faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault in connection with allegations he had inappropriate sexual contact with Andrea Constand, a former Temple University athletic department employee, at his Cheltenham home after plying her with blue pills and wine sometime between mid-January and mid-February 2004.

Cosby claimed the sexual contact was consensual.

The charges were lodged against Cosby on Dec. 30, 2015, before the 12-year statute of limitations to file charges expired.

The newspaper does not normally identify victims of sex crimes without their consent but is using Constand’s name because she has identified herself publicly.

Cosby currently remains free on 10 percent of $1 million bail. If convicted of the charges at trial, the former sitcom star faces a possible maximum sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison.