Judge rules ex-DA’s opinion inadmissable

NORRISTOWN » A day after Bill Cosby’s jury was seated for his sexual assault retrial, his lawyers are trying to get one male juror removed, claiming he “may hold a fixed opinion” about the case, according to court papers.

In court papers filed in Montgomery County Court late Friday, defense lawyers claimed a woman who was a prospective juror, during the selection process on April 4, overheard a man who subsequently was seated on the jury say to others, “I just think he’s guilty, so we can all be done and get out of here.”

The female prospective juror, who was not selected, later notified the defense team about what she had heard and defense lawyers subsequently obtained a written declaration from the woman about the alleged incident. The woman provided a description of the “younger white gentleman with longer hair” and indicated she believed he may have been seated as a Cosby juror and that she wanted to make the defense team aware and that “she felt Mr. Cosby should have a fair trial,” according to court documents.

An investigator for the defense team also interviewed the prospective juror who made the allegation, in preparation for the last minute court filing on Friday.

“When, after a jury has been selected, it has come to the court’s attention that selected jurors made false or otherwise troubling statements in voir dire and may have formed a fixed opinion on the outcome of the case, it is within the court’s discretion to grant a motion to dismiss such a juror for cause,” defense lawyers, led by Thomas Mesereau Jr., wrote in court papers.

The lawyers argued that seated juror number 11’s “statements indicate that he has formed a fixed opinion about Mr. Cosby’s guilt in this case.”

Defense lawyers want the juror to be removed from the panel. In the alternative, defense lawyers want to question the juror again “to explore whether he has formed a fixed opinion regarding the guilt of Mr. Cosby” and whether he expressed any such opinion to other prospective jurors.

“Finally, the defense requests that the court question the other seated jurors to determine whether they heard such a comment” from the seated juror “and whether they can in fact be fair and impartial.”

The current jury panel of 12 consists of seven men and five women. Ten of the jurors are white and two are African-American. Six alternate jurors also were selected.

If the juror is removed,

the first of six alternate jurors selected would be moved to the primary panel of 12. That first alternate juror is an African-American man.

It’s unclear when presiding judge Steven T. O’Neill will address the issue.

Opening statements of the lawyers are scheduled for Monday morning as the retrial is slated to get under way.

William Henry Cosby Jr., as his name appears on charging documents, faces three counts of aggravated indecent assault in connection with allegations he had inappropriate sexual contact with Andrea Constand, a former Temple University athletic department employee, at his Cheltenham home after plying her with blue pills and wine sometime between mid-January and mid-February 2004.

Cosby, 80, has maintained his contact with Constand was consensual.

Cosby’s first trial last June ended in a mistrial when jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict.