Bill Cosby Sex Assault Case Has Two Jury Members5 min read

Prosecutors and the defense team on Wednesday also selected three of six alternates, and two of them are black.

Cosby’s lawyers had complained this week that prosecutors were trying to keep blacks off the jury with their seven strikes. The judge, though, found prosecutors had other valid reasons to strike two black women earlier this week. The jury make-up of 17 percent is higher than the 13 percent black population in the County.

Cosby, the 79-year-old black actor-comedian once known as America’s Dad for his beloved portrayal of Dr. Cliff Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” is charged with drugging and molesting a Temple University women’s basketball team manager at his home near Philadelphia in 2004. He has called the encounter consensual.

Dozens of other women have made similar accusations against Cosby, but the judge is allowing only one of them to testify. The jury from Pittsburgh will be sequestered nearly 300 miles from home.

Cosby, in an interview last week, said race could be a motivating factor in the accusations against him. The jurors selected earlier this week included a black woman who said she knew only “basic information” about the case, a white man who initially expressed a tendency to believe police and two people who said they don’t read or watch the news.

The trial will take place in Montgomery County, where Cosby had invited Andrea Constand to his home in 2004. Constand said she went seeking career advice. She said Cosby gave her wine and pills before molesting her on his couch.