NORRISTOWN, Pa. _ The headliner was a comedian, superstar and in a new role, criminal defendant Bill Cosby. But a different star stole the spotlight Monday at the start of the sexual assault trial against the Hollywood legend in in Norristown: the woman who once played Cosby's saucy little TV daughter.
Scores of journalists turned their lenses toward actress Keshia Knight Pulliam on Monday morning as she stepped out of a black SUV under grey skies and a helicopter buzzing above. Wearing a bright fuchsia scarf over black polka dots, the now-grown-woman strode to another SUV and greeted the man who once played hers and America's Dad.
The 79-year-old Cosby and the 38-year-old Knight Pulliam _ once known to TV viewers as Cliff and Rudy Huxtable _ shared a laugh, then walked into Montgomery County Courthouse. They passed hordes of journalists whose sheer numbers were unmatched by the relative apathy of passersby and citizens who stumbled upon the scene.
One after another, ordinary folks said they had no idea Cosby was in town until they ran into the spectacle at court.
"If people are buzzing about it, I'm out of the loop," said Alex Morrison, as the 38-year-old restaurant manager from Narberth stomped out a cigarette on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse while on break from jury selection on a different case. "I live in a bubble of unfortunate Philadelphia sports and my job."
TV satellite trucks began lining Swede Street outside early in the morning. The courtroom itself was packed by the time Cosby hobbled in with Knight Pulliam. Judge Steven T. O'Neill urged the spectators and press not to interfere with the work of the jurors, all from the Pittsburgh area, and all sequestered until the trial ends in an estimated two weeks.
"Please," the judge said. "Let them do their job. They're 300 miles away from home ... I understand the rights of a free press and access, but not now. Let this trial play out."
Until she left the courthouse at lunchtime, Knight Pulliam spent as much time as possible by Cosby's side. The entire morning, every time there was a break from opening arguments, Cosby's publicist made a point to escort her from a seat in the gallery to the actor's side, placing the duo in full view of photographers each time.
Knight Pulliam said she was driven to attend by a sense of familial integrity and friendship.
"This is where you hear the facts," she told reporters at the courthouse steps after opening arguments had ended. "This is where the truth happens."
Cosby is "innocent until proven guilty," she added, and said she was praying for everyone touched by the case.
"I will accept whatever verdict is handed down," Knight Pulliam said.
The people who stopped momentarily to take in the scene, or who ambled by with little more than a nod of the head, seemed torn by the fundamentals of the case: It revolves around whether the man who brought beloved TV character Cliff Huxtable to life committed a crime when he had a sexual encounter with former Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his Cheltenham Township mansion in 2004. Some worried Cosby was guilty, while others wondered if he was groundlessly charged.
They included 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 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."
All seemed either impressed or disappointed by the courthouse scene unfolding in the heart of an old industrial city. The monumental building was ringed by satellite broadcast trucks and tents sheltering scores of reporters from all across the country and the globe, including CNN, SKY, AFP, and all four national broadcast networks,
Upstairs on the fifth floor, whispers of the name "Cosby" could be heard in a waiting area outside the family court wing where former District Attorney Risa Ferman, who brought the charges against Cosby a year and a half ago, now serves as an elected Common Pleas Court judge.
"I snuck in through a side entrance _ very 007-ish," said Sharia Maldonado, 30, of Willow Grove, as she cradled her 4-week-old daughter, Suzanne. She had no idea Cosby's trial was beginning until she encountered awful traffic around the courthouse.
"I'm kind of nervous for him," Maldonado said of Cosby, who she grew up watching in syndication. "I just hope that everything works out the way it's supposed to. That whatever the truth is, the truth is found."
Before Cosby's former co-star left for the day, Knight Pulliam expressed a similar hope in the integrity of the legal process. Her reason for making a very public show of support, she said, was a personal one.
"I just said, I'm going to handle this the way I would want to be treated," she said, "I want to be the person that I would like to have if the tables were turned."
