The jury selection process for Bill Cosby’s upcoming sexual-assault trial is complete. Seven men and five women have been selected from a candidate pool run through the Pittsburgh County Courthouse in Allegheny County, despite the fact that the trial will take place in Norristown, which is inside Montgomery County. That means the jurors will be shuttled 300 miles east to the Philadelphia suburb, and sequestered for the duration of the trial, which is expected to take about two weeks. Cosby’s lawyers requested that jurors be selected from an area outside of his home county in order to draw from a larger and more diverse pool of people, but despite the fact that voir dire took place outside of Pittsburg, there were still only two black jurors selected. The racial makeup of the jury had been a massive point of contention between the defense and prosecution, with Cosby’s team saying there was a “systematic exclusion of African-Americans” being carried out, according to the New York Times.
Despite conflicts, the 12-member group has been settled on, but the judge and lawyers are still selecting who the six alternates will be. More than 50 women have accused Cosby of sexual assault, but this trial will only deal with allegations made by Andrea Constand, who claims that Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her at his mansion in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, in early 2004.
