NORRISTOWN, Pa. _ Just days before they are scheduled to deliver opening arguments in his sexual assault retrial, Bill Cosby's lawyers are seeking to oust one of the 12 jurors just selected to hear the case.
In a motion filed late Friday, Cosby's defense team accused a man chosen for the panel of telling other prospective jurors that he was convinced of Cosby's guilt.
Quoting an affidavit from another prospective juror who overheard the remark, the lawyers said that the man selected as Juror No. 11 told others: "I just think he's guilty, so we can all go home."
The purported statement was made earlier this week as he and others waited to be questioned by Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O'Neill during the jury-selection process in Norristown. The juror's words may have been overheard by at least 11 other potential jurors who were in the same waiting room at the time, the defense motion says.
Cosby's lawyers on Friday asked O'Neill to remove the man from the panel and to let them question all the other jurors to determine if they, too, had heard his statements _ a request that threatened to upend the high-profile trial set to begin Monday in Norristown.
The request came only a day after the judge had finalized the panel of seven men, five women, and six alternates that will be charged with deciding Cosby's fate.
O'Neill could opt to remove the juror from the panel, but as of late Friday, he had not ruled on the request. Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele had not responded to the defense claims.
When interviewed by O'Neill earlier this week as part of the jury-selection process, the man ultimately chosen as Juror No. 11 said he had no fixed opinion about the Cosby case and vowed to set aside all that he had heard.
A woman who overheard Juror No. 11's alleged statements said she felt compelled to alert Cosby's defense team after she was cut from the panel on Wednesday. Her name was redacted in the defense court filings.
"I reached out to tell them about what I heard because I did not feel it was right," the woman said in a sworn affidavit attached to the defense motion Friday. "I wanted to make sure Mr. Cosby has a fair trial."
Cosby is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004.
