Jury selection due to start in Bill Cosby sexual assault retrial
News & Trends •
jury selection for the retrial of us comedian bill cosby on sexual assault charges was set to begin in a pennsylvania court on monday1 the 80-year-old is charged with three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting accuser andrea constand at his home in 20041 he was originally tried in june last year but the court case ended with a mistrial after the 12-member jury was unable to agree on a verdict1 cosby a household name in the us hired a new legal team for the re-trial including tom mesereau who is best-known for his part in michael jacksons acquittal on child molestation charges in 20051 more than 50 women have come forward to publicly accuse cosby of drugging and raping them but the trial is focused solely on accusations from constand a former employee at temple university in philadelphia cosbys alma mater1 she alleges that cosby gave her pills and sexually assaulted her as she drifted in and out of consciousness1 at a pre-trial hearing last month the judge said the testimony of five other women who allege similar misconduct by cosby would be allowed local media reported1 the african-american actor started his career as a stand-up comic in the 1960s1 his biggest success was the television sitcom the cosby show which ran from 1984-92 in which he played obstetrician cliff huxtable the wise and loveable patriarch of an affluent black family in new york1 the trial is scheduled to start on april 9 in norristown pennsylvania.dpanan1