PITTSBURGH _ Defense lawyers on Tuesday accused prosecutors of systematically trying to exclude black people from the jury that will decide Bill Cosby's fate, as the court came close to filling out the full panel on the second day of jury selection.
The dispute broke out when Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele moved to block a black woman from filling the 12th and final seat on the jury.
"This is a systematic exclusion of African Americans," said defense lawyer Brian J. McMonagle, noting that the blocked juror was the second black woman whom prosecutors had struck from the juror pool.
Prosecutors replied that they had dismissed the woman for a reason unrelated to her race.
She is a former Pittsburgh police detective who faced charges as part of a "wide ranging scandal" involving the falsification of overtime records, said Assistant District Attorney M. Stewart Ryan.
Judge Steven T. O'Neill ruled that prosecutors had adequately described a "non-discriminatory reason" for striking the woman from the juror pool. He added, however, that the issue could be raised again if defense lawyers pursued an argument based on the statistical makeup of the race of the jury pool.
Cosby's lawyers _ and the entertainer himself _ have previously raised the idea that the charges against him are racially motivated.
"We believe it is of paramount importance that there be a diverse jury," McMonagle said.
Earlier Tuesday, six more jurors were added to the panel _ bringing the total after two days of jury selection to 11. The six selected Tuesday included three young men and a middle-aged woman, all white, as well as a young woman who is the only black to be seated on the panel so fa.r
Jury selection will resume Wednesday at the Allegheny County Courthouse, when 100 more potential jurors are summoned.
The jury will be bused to Montgomery County and sequestered for the duration of the trial, scheduled to begin June 5. Cosby is accused of aggravated indecent assault for allegedly drugging and molesting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his Cheltenham home in 2004.
