PITTSBURGH _ Three men and two women were chosen Monday as the first of 12 jurors who will hear Bill Cosby's sexual assault case.
All five are white, and at least three said they had prior knowledge of the scandals that have bedeviled the 79-year-old entertainer since late 2014, but vowed to put what they had heard aside.
Their selection came on the first day of one of the most expansive jury-selection processes ever undertaken in Allegheny County: the search for 12 people and six alternates whose opinions had not been tainted by one of the most heavily covered sexual abuse scandals in history.
More than one-third of the 100 potential jurors gathered in the Allegheny County Courthouse indicated Monday that they had an opinion about Cosby's guilt or innocence.
Television news trucks filled a parking lot outside the courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh on Monday morning, and the potential jurors began whispering as reporters came into the courtroom. As Cosby entered, they fell silent, some straining their necks to look at the entertainer, who was wearing a tan checkered blazer, tie, and gold pocket square.
Cosby is charged with aggravated indecent assault. Prosecutors say he drugged and molested former Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his home in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, in 2004.
His trial is scheduled to begin June 5 in Norristown. Jurors selected in Allegheny County will be bused to Montgomery County and sequestered for the duration of the trial, which is expected to last two weeks.
"Justice in this case isn't done by anybody else but the 12 jurors in that deliberation room," Montgomery County Court Judge Steven T. O'Neill told the group of Allegheny County residents as he explained the procedure for the day.
He delivered a warning to the 100 jury candidates, 86 of whom said they were aware of the criminal case against Cosby. "No one should make any effort to be on this jury and no one should make any effort to be off this jury," O'Neill said.
Later, lawyers read a list of more than 30 potential witnesses for the trial, including such figures as Cosby's longtime pilot and his private chef, several members of Constand's family, and various expert witnesses on sexual abuse counseling and memory.
Fourteen of the prospective jurors said they would feel unable to return a verdict based solely on the evidence presented at trial.
Thirty-five prospective jurors said they or a close friend or family member had been a victim of a sexual assault, and 25 said the nature of the charge itself would make them unable to serve as unbiased jurors.
Two-thirds of the jury pool said that traveling to Montgomery County for the two-week trial would be an undue hardship for them.
The first group of 100 potential jurors included 53 men and 47 women. Fourteen of those were African-American.
Fifty additional jurors will be called up for Tuesday.
Potential jurors will be summoned to appear other days this week until 12 jurors and six alternates are selected.
