With Jury selection about to begin for the June 5 sexual
assault trial of entertainer Bill Cosby, Montgomery County Judge Steven T.
O’Neill gave one last stern-sounding warning to members of the media and the
general public, focusing on the security of the jury panel.
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| Montco Judge Steven T. O'Neill/Submitted Photo |
“Reporters and members of the general public are reminded
that any attempt by anyone, without leave of Court, to communicate with a
member of the jury panel respecting the case, until the conclusion of the case,
may be punished as a criminal contempt of court,” O’Neill wrote in a court
order issued on Friday.
Jury selection begins Monday at the Allegheny County
Courthouse in Pittsburgh.
The judge added that during individual questioning of
jurors, “the room may be cleared of reporters and members of the general public
if the juror expresses a desire to answer a sensitive question in private.”
Indeed, the Cosby jury, a panel of 12 and six alternate
jurors, likely will be subject to some of the tightest security that a jury has
ever faced in Montgomery County. It is the most high-profile criminal trial to
ever play out at the county courthouse in Norristown.
“Overall, our real focus is security, securing those
jurors,” county Sheriff Sean P. Kilkenny told me during a recent interview. “We
want to make it as safe and comfortable for the jurors. They are coming from
Allegheny County, sacrificing everything being away from their families, and we
want to make it as safe and comfortable for them as we can.”
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| Montco Sheriff Sean Kilkenny/Submitted Photo |
The selection process was moved after defense lawyers
argued that closer to home prospective jurors had been subjected to pervasive
media coverage that made it impossible to select a fair jury in Montgomery
County.
Once the jurors are selected, they will be transported to
Montgomery County and sequestered at an area hotel for the duration of the
trial, which is expected to last at least two weeks.
Cosby, 79, 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.
Once the trial begins, I’ll have daily reports for Digital
First Media publications. You can also find breaking Cosby news by following
@MontcoCourtNews on Twitter.
This article helps us see that Cosby's psychopathic need to cover up his crimes affects hundreds upon hundreds of people, way beyond just his assault victims. Now, jurors must be taken from their families for weeks, leave their jobs, and whatever other responsibilities they must have. CONFESS, COSBY. Just confess like you should and stop messing up people's lives!
ReplyDeleteAmerica has had a recent education -- a crash course, really, -- in the characteristics and habits of the malignant narcissist. The jury will be ready for Cosby. He will seem vaguely familiar to them, and then it will hit them: we are finally coming awake to the signature of the powerful man who cares nothing for anyone but himself.
ReplyDeleteSequestration isn't uncommon in high profile cases. The worse were the jurors in the OJ Simpson trial. They were sequestered for 8 months. It's an insurance it won't be tainted by the intense media hype.
ReplyDelete