NORRISTOWN, Pa. _ Bill Cosby arrived Monday morning in a media-filled Norristown for the first day of his sexual-assault trial, expected to be the most-watched celebrity legal case since O.J. Simpson's 1995 murder trial.
Arriving with the Hollywood legend was Keshia Knight Pulliam, the now 38-year-old actress known for playing his television daughter, Rudy Huxtable. Cosby's wife, Camille, was not seen.
The Philadelphia-born comedian and actor arrived to throngs of journalists at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown.
Inside the courtroom, Judge Steven T. O'Neill started the day with a plea to reporters and the public not to interfere with the process.
"Let them do their job, they're 300 miles away from home, what they do each and every day, their families and their work. I understand the rights of a free press and access _ but not now. Let this trial play out," he said. Jurors were selected from Allegheny County to hear the case.
Outside, there were no clusters of fans or foes _ only passersby and lawyers going about the start of another work week.
"This is such a huge case in Montgomery County," lawyer Melanie Wender said. The 33-year-old family law attorney from Glenside considers herself a neighbor of Cosby, living just minutes from the Cheltenham Township home where Cosby is accused of assaulting his accuser in the case, Andrea Constand.
"Everybody, no matter what age you were, watched the Cosby show," Wender said.
Moments later, an 80-year-old woman walked by the spot where Wender had been standing. But instead of watching with wide eyes, she shook her head disapprovingly.
Lucy Payno questioned the merits of Constand's claims, and the wisdom of prosecuting Cosby at his age.
"I loved Cosby," the Chestnut Hill woman said as she walked to visit her daughter in Norristown. "It's just so sad that they'd say he would do something like that."
She zeroed in on an element of the case likely to get a full hearing in court: the fact that Constand waited a year before reporting the alleged assault.
"Let it go. Let it go," Payno said as she walked gingerly past the media spectacle with downcast eyes facing the pavement. "He's old and half-blind."
The courthouse on Monday morning was surrounded by satellite broadcast trucks and tents sheltering scores of reporters on what was expected to be a stormy day.
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