PHILADELPHIA _ With his sexual assault trial looming next year, Bill Cosby's lawyers posed a question Friday likely to dominate discussion of the closely-watched celebrity proceedings:
Can the 79-year-old entertainer receive a fair trial in Montgomery County _ or for that matter, anywhere else?
In a new court filing, the defense asked Judge Steven T. O'Neill to move the trial from Norristown, Pa., to a larger urban center, citing "extensive, sustained and pervasive" local media coverage of Cosby's alleged sexual misconduct and Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele's use of the case in the campaign that swept him into office a year ago.
"Larger media markets generally contain more diverse and opposing viewpoints and the prejudicial impact of the blatantly one-sided media coverage of this case might be dampened by the reduced media saturation in those larger markets, with populations in excess of 1.2 million people," defense lawyers Brian J. McMonagle and Angela Agrusa wrote.
They didn't name a city or preferred location.
But the lawyers highlighted a series of recent news headlines in pressing their case, including one from a New York Daily News cover in July that labeled Cosby "America's Rapist" as well as a New York Times story that said Cosby's reputation had slid from that of "America's dad to America's creepy uncle."
They lambasted media coverage of Cosby's current travails, saying reporters from news outlets as far away as Qatar had breathlessly and uncritically reported on allegations from more than 50 Cosby accusers.
But in Montgomery County the focus on the case has been even more acute, McMonagle and Agrusa wrote, thanks to Steele's 2015 election campaign, which featured a TV ad accusing a predecessor in the district attorney's office of ignoring Cosby's crimes.
"It is difficult to conceive of a case in recent history that has generated more widespread, inflammatory and sustained media coverage than the current case against Mr. Cosby," McMonagle and Agrusa wrote. "Branded variously a monster, a sociopath and sexual predator, everyone from the current District Attorney of Montgomery County to President Obama has publicly weighed in on the allegations against Mr. Cosby."
Steele's office did not immediately return calls for comment Friday, but prosecutors have previously dismissed Cosby's arguments that Steele acted inappropriately during his campaign.
Cosby stands accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, in 2004 in his Cheltenham mansion. But prosecutors have asked the judge to allow 13 other Cosby accusers to testify about similar alleged attacks stretching back decades.
O'Neill has said he intends to hold the trial by June.
